While many of us were relaxing in the sun over spring break, the members of Saint Louis University's baseball team were also feeling the heat. In their first series at home, the Billikens dropped all three games to the Flames of the University of Illinois-Chicago. Those who attended, expecting pitching duels at the Billiken Sports Center, left disappointed, as the Flames and the Billikens crossed home a combined 65 times over course of the three games.
Friday's game was an extra-innings heartbreaker for the Billikens, who fell by the score of 13-10 in 11 innings.
The game played out like a seesaw with seven ties and eight lead changes.
Eight of the nine Billiken starters recorded at least one hit as SLU capitalized on five UIC errors, which led to five unearned runs.
Senior first baseman Drew Eder led SLU with three hits and junior outfielder Matt Gerst socked a game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the third.
Unfortunately, the Flames had an answer to every one of SLU's rallies, culminating with second baseman Bryan Russo's bases-loaded double to left field off SLU freshman Mark Zielinski in the 11th.
The double cleared the bases and gave the Flames a 13-9 lead that SLU could not surmount. The first game of the series set the tone for what would prove to be a difficult weekend for the team.
In game two of the series, every Billiken starter recorded a hit, but the Billikens found themselves doubled up on the scoreboard 14-7 when all was said and done, as UIC continued their clutch hitting. The Bills bounced back from a 5-0 deficit in the third, cutting the lead to 5-4 in the bottom half of the inning. However, that would be the closest they got, as the Flames put up six unanswered runs over the next three innings.
Eder and junior outfielder Johnny Sweeney both added two hits to the cause, but for all that offensive clout, the Billikens were ineffective on the mound once again.
Of the seven different pitchers to make an appearance, six of them allowed a run, and not one lasted longer than two innings.
The final game of the series saw SLU jump out to an early 2-0 lead after Peden and Sweeney hit back-to-back two out doubles in the first inning.
But the Flames continued persistent attack hitting two home runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-2 lead. Things continued to unravel for SLU as an error, a walk, two hit batters and a wild pitch led three more runs for UIC. While the offense chipped away on many occasions, the Flames proved to be too much at the plate, winning by a 14-7 margin again.
The offensive stagnancy that plagued SLU during its first couple of series seems to be all but forgotten, judging by the 38 hits and 24 runs the team amassed. In its last five losses, the team accumulated 32 hits and 15 runs. Now it is just a matter of the pitching, regaining the form it displayed at the onset of the season.
Eder, who had led the charge offensively against UIC, noted, "Finally we had some hits drop, and hitting just became contagious. As a team, everything is starting to fall in place now offensively."
When asked about the state of the team heading into conference play, he remained cautiously optimistic.
"All the pistons aren't firing right now. While our pitching kept us in games earlier in the year and the offensive let us down, we now need the pitching to get back on track. We have confidence in them. They are a young staff and in time they will progress and start producing," he said.
Over the course of spring break, the Billikens went 1-6 overall, losing two out of three at Troy and falling to Bradley in the home opener before the series against UIC. For the year, SLU is 2-10.
"While this was a frustrating weekend for us, I'm confident we'll get things back on track. We battled back many times this weekend from three or four run deficits, but unfortunately we came up a bit short. This team has a never-say-die spirit about it and our guys will be ready to bounce back," Eder said.
The team looks to change their luck this upcoming weekend, as they kick off their final season in Conference USA.
They travel to Birmingham to take on the UAB Blazers (11-5) in a three-game series.
