“Just take it one game at a time.”
ClichZs like this one, while cheesy, hold a lot of water in a sport like baseball, where many superstitions reside and where the fat lady truly does not start singing until the last out has been recorded.
This particular clichZ has been used over the years by different teams at different times, but most of the time by the ones that have some ground to make up.
So, too, is the case with the Saint Louis University baseball team, which is headed up to Peoria, Ill. today to take on the Bradley Braves, in what is a defining point in their season.
While the Braves are not in Conference USA, they are by no means a slouch of a team, and if the Bills could pull out a win here it would give them a bit of confidence as they head into one of the toughest parts of their schedule, with two home series– coming up against conference powers Houston and Tulane.
And even though the Bills are still a way back from the leaders in the standings, they are by no means giving up.
There is still a lot of games left to be played; and just as there are a lot of devout fans who still have not ruled out the return of Elvis, so too are there a great deal of fans who still have faith in the Billikens making a comeback of their own.
Speaking of comebacks, there are very few things in the game of baseball like watching a comeback. The comeback, after all, made the “rally cap” famous and the names Bobby Thompson and Carlton Fisk notorious, and remember, in the game of baseball, no lead is safe, even a four-run lead, which is exactly what the Southwest Missouri State Bears had on the Billikens Monday night. But the Billikens made a huge statement by rallying back from a 5-1 deficit against SMSU and downing the Bears 6-5.
They scored their final run in the bottom half of the seventh inning when Don Lawson raced home on an infield hit by Ryan Murphy, and barely beat out the throw to the plate.
Zack Placzek was the Bills’ starting pitcher against the Bears, and he gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings of work.
After Joe Buehler relieved Placzek in the seventh for a brief stint, Dave Guntorius came in and shut down the Bears for the final two innings and secured the Billiken victory.
