Normally when a score of 19-10 is shown in a collegiate sporting
event, one night think of a reasonably low scoring football
game.
That wasn’t the case Tuesday afternoon as the Saint Louis
University baseball team scored early and often to rout the Eastern
Illinois University Panthers 19-10 at the Billiken Sports
Complex.
More than half of the Billiken batters reached base against EIU
pitching, drawing 17 walks and another 14 picking up hits.
Two school home run records were tied, with freshman outfielder
Jon Greenwich hitting three homers in the game, while the Billikens
as a team totaled six round-trippers to tie a record.
Both teams put together strong offensive outputs in the first
few innings.
After the Panthers tallied two runs in the top of the first
inning, the Billikens responded with two runs of their own to even
the score at 2-2 entering the second inning.
EIU reclaimed the lead in the top of the second, making the
score 3-2. That lead would be very short lived, as SLU came back in
a big way with an eight-run outburst.
Junior designated hitter Scott Peden drove in three with a home
run over the left field fence, then Greenwich followed up with a
solo homer to left center.
More runs were added when senior first baseman Drew Eder reached
base for the second time in the inning when he doubled, driving in
two more runs.
Freshman outfielder Mark Hankes closed the scoring when he drove
in the first of his four RBIs with a double to right field.
When the inning came to a close, the Billikens led 10-3. All 10
runs were charged to Panthers starting pitcher Mike Manns.
The third inning was only inning where both teams failed to
score, and the only inning where the Billikens failed to send a run
across the plate.
The scoring resumed in the fourth inning as the Panthers plated
three runs to shrink the Billikens’ lead to 10-6.
in the bottom half of the inning with his fifth home run of the
season, a solo blast. The lead could have been widened further, but
EIU pitcher Alex Chapple, who entered the game in relief of Manns
at the beginning of the third inning, stranded the bases
loaded.
The Panthers added four more runs in the top of the fifth
inning, capitalized by a two-run home run by outfielder David
Chacon with two outs cutting the Billikens’ lead to 11-10.
The inning ended when freshman catcher Bill Musselman threw out
EIU runner Erik Huber trying to steal second base after senior Kris
Weber relieved sophomore Adam Schroeder.
The Billikens widened their lead in the bottom of the fifth when
Hankes picked up his first home run of the season when he hit a
three-run bomb to increase the lead to 14-10. Weber and Wort held
the Panthers scoreless for the remainder of the game while the
Billikens continued to add to their lead, scoring almost at
will.
Greenwich added his third homer of the game, which tied the
school record for home runs in a game while also tying a school
record with seven RBIs in one single game.
Schroeder picked up the win for the Bills, while the team
improved to 8-16 on the season.
Over the weekend, the Billikens split a doubleheader with the
University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers, winning the first game
8-6 but falling 6-5 in the second game. The close scores were
telling, as both games went wire to wire.
The rubber game of the series, which was supposed to be played
on Sunday afternoon. However, it was rained out.
The Billikens are in action against this weekend in a three-game
series against the University of South Florida Bulls, a Conference
USA foe, in Tampa, Fla.
C-USA Road Trip
Who: South Florida Bulls
When: Three-game series, all weekend
Where: Tampa, Fl.
