“We were very fortunate to come out of here with a win,” Saint Louis University’s head baseball coach Bob Hughes said.

That about sums it up for the Billikens, after they squeaked out a 7-6 win over the McKendree Bearcats last night. The game was capped by a Brad Daubach pinch hit sacrifice fly with the bases loaded that plated Johnny Sweeney for the game-winning run.

Even though the Bills chalked up 10 hits in the effort, they struggled defensively and committed five errors, four by third baseman Don Rogers alone, which allowed McKendree to stay close.

The game started off well for the Bills with a two-run first inning and after the Bearcats came back to tie it up in the top of the fourth the Bills broke out for another three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Thanks to some timely hitting and a few Billiken miscues, the Bearcats reeled off four unanswered runs to take the lead again. But in the bottom of the seventh, the Bills bounced back with an RBI triple by Sweeney. Sweeney added a double to his night along with two RBIs. He was also hit by a pitch and drew a walk. He was on base a total of four times, scoring two runs, including the game winner.

Aaron Thompson also had a stellar night, compiling three hits and scoring two runs.

The Bills were coming off a tough road series against conference power Houston and are hosting another conference heavyweight, Tulane, this weekend. So it might be safe to say that the Bills were looking past McKendree last night.

“We kind of forgot that the games in the middle are just as important,” Hughes said. “Nothing in particular was great tonight, but that’s just baseball.”

But due to some timely hitting and some good play from the younger guys the Bills came out with a win. And they’ll need that and a whole lot more this weekend when the Green Wave comes to town.

Tulane comes in ranked 3rd in the conference standings and brings with it a four-game winning streak, so needless to say the Bills will have their hands full when the series kicks off tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Another setback for the Bills came Tuesday when Bills pitcher Kris Weber had season-ending surgery on his shoulder, which had torn cartilage in it. Weber spent the early part of the season on the disabled list due to a back strain but returned for two brief relief appearances. He has been out of action since early April.

“Weber was a guy that we could bring into a Friday night game and who could dominate a team,” Hughes said.

Aside from the Friday night game against Tulane, the two teams will also square off for two day games on Saturday and Sunday, each starting at 1 p.m.