The Saint Louis University Billiken baseball team is heading down to Tampa this weekend, not for the sunny surf or bikini-clad ladies on the beaches, but rather for a three-game set against Conference USA rival South Florida.
The Billikens, fresh off of their first conference series win last weekend at Louisville, have finally managed to put a few wins together and are threatening to climb out of the cellar. After starting the season 1-9 in C-USA play, the Bills were able to win two of three against the Cardinals. The wins, coupled with the emergence of some incredible pitching from the staff, might be just what the Bills needed to jumpstart their season and propel them into the heat of the conference title hunt.
But first things first, and that means taking care of business against the Bulls of South Florida this weekend. The Bulls are coming into the game with a 5-5 record in conference play, but have already compiled 21 victories overall for the season. The Bulls showcase a very potent lineup headlined by Bryan Hierlmeier, who leads the team in RBI’s with 30, and home runs with four.
The Bulls also have a formidable pitching staff, led by ace David Austen and incredible relief pitcher Mike Yeager. Austen comes into the game with a record of 7-1 in only 11 outings and has struck out 68 batters and assembled a 2.15 earned run average (ERA). Yeager has been even more impressive, not allowing a single earned run in nine different outings, and scattering 12 hits over the course of the season.
But Bills also have some pitching in their arsenal, including Lawson, Ben Hutton and Jake Baumgartner. Lawson and Baumgartner each pitched incredibly for the Bills last weekend against Louisville and earned wins for the team in games one and three. win.
But both pitchers were overshadowed by the gem of a game thrown by Hutton, who went the distance in the second game of the series, allowed only two runs on five hits, but came up just short, dropping the decision 2-1.
In this weekend’s series, the Billikens were finally able to put together both their offensive power and their pitching prowess and almost sweep the series from a solid Louisville team.
They were looking to carry that momentum into their game this past Tuesday when they were scheduled to host Southwest Missouri State. However, that game was cancelled due to inclement weather and is rescheduled for next Monday. Yesterday, though, the Bills made the trek down to Springfield yesterday to play SMSU at their place.
The Billikens lost the heartbreaker 8-7 in 11 innings.
The Bills jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and held it for most of the game. By the 8th inning the lead had been cut to just three but the Bears rallied back and tied it up.
The game proceeded to extra frames and, after a scoreless 10th, the Bears were able to load the bases in the bottom of the 11th and then force home the winning run on a walk.
