“It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares about who gets the credit.”
-Robert Yates
A total-team identity has been adopted by the Saint Louis University baseball team, and it is paying off.
The Billikens were 5-10 heading into this week’s non-conference schedule and their team identity was in limbo. That isn’t surprising considering that the Billikens had played twice as many games as they had practices on the field, due to horrible weather conditions early in the season.
Yesterday, the Billikens jumped out to an early lead against the Evansville Purple Aces thanks to back-to-back home runs from third baseman Don Rogers and first baseman Corey Lawson. Both Rogers and Lawson took offerings from Evansville starter Luke Miller and deposited them deep over the left field fence.
It was Rogers’ fourth home run of the year and Lawson’s sixth, respectively.
The Billiken offense didn’t let up as they continued to punish the Aces when they had scoring opportunities. The Billikens played aggressively on the basepaths, put runners in scoring position and then brought them home with some key base hits.
“Today was a good indication of how we need to play. We played old-fashioned aggressive, hard-nosed baseball. We were very aggressive on the bases and got some key hits,” coach Bob Hughes said.
“Everything we’ve been trying to get the team to buy into has started to pay off. We’re playing hard, practicing hard, and now it is paying off,” Hughes said.
The Bills scattered 10 hits and spread the run production throughout the lineup, as six different hitters had at least one RBI. The consistency in the batting order is what the Billikens have been lacking in the previous weeks.
“Corey and Don have been our most consistent hitters all season. Don just hasn’t been getting any RBIs; it was good to see him knock three runs in today. He’s still taking too many pitches though. He needs to be more aggressive and hit earlier in the count,” said Hughes.
On the mound, senior righty Zach Placzek held the Aces to three runs in seven innings of work. He let his defense help him, as the Bills turned two double plays behind him.
“This was Zach’s best outing of the year. He had good control and was working ahead in the count. When he works ahead he is successful, and when he doesn’t he gets in trouble. When Zach has been in trouble this year it is because he has been behind in the count,” said Hughes.
“I threw the ball decent today. I let the defense do half of the work, and they did a hell of a job picking it up behind me,” Placzek said.
Placzek picked up his second win of the season and attributed much of his success to one of his teammates.
“Right before the ballgame I got a tip about my delivery from Kurt Struckoff. He pointed out that I was coiling up too far and he showed me how to fix it. His tip helped me hit the outside corner on righties, which I had been having trouble with in my last few starts,” said Placzek.
After a balanced offense and the performance of Placzek on the mound, the Billikens went on to beat the Purple Aces by a score of 10-5.
Tuesday afternoon it was senior right fielder Steve Moss who led the Billikens to victory. Moss had his best offensive game as a Billiken going 2-5 with a two-run home run and the game winning RBI in the ninth.
“It was a three/two count, and the pitch was probably ball four. I just dropped the bat head on the ball and hit it right back up the middle,” Moss said.
Moss wasn’t the only Billiken who stepped up, as Rogers and Lawson went back-to-back for the first time of the year, in the seventh inning, against the Panthers of Eastern Illinois. The Billikens topped the Panthers 9-8 and broke their three-game losing streak in the process.
The Billikens will look to pick up their first conference victory of the season as they host the 49ers of Charlotte this weekend. The first game is at 7 p.m. at the Billiken Sports Complex.
