After dropping a heartbreaker at home to UT-Martin, the Saint Louis University baseball team lost two of three away games to Southern Mississippi this past weekend.
The Billikens overcame three deficits in their 9-7 loss in extra innings to UT-Martin last Wednesday, but a pair of unearned runs in the 11th was too much to handle.
With the game tied 2-2 in the third, senior third-baseman Andrew Eder's sacrifice fly gave the Billikens a one-run lead before senior first baseman Scott Peden launched a solo home run.
The Skyhawks regained the lead on a home run of their own, and held a 5-4 advantage in the sixth.
Junior left fielder Johnny Sweeney's single scored Eder to knot the game at 5-5.
UT-Martin took one-run leads in the seventh and eighth, only to see the Billikens claw back. The game was tied 7-7 in the 11th, but two unearned runs gave the Skyhawks the victory.
Even in defeat, the Billikens showed a lot about their character.
"It shows this team will never give up, no matter our record or the score in the game," junior Tim Landy said.
"I think it says a lot because, with how bad the season has gone, we still come out fighting every game. A lot of teams and a lot of people would find it easy to pack it in, but we don't want to," he added.
The Billikens had 10 hits on the day, including three by senior shortstop Pat Steinhoff.
Down 5-1 in the fourth, the Billikens battled back again, cutting the lead to 5-4. Southern Miss scored a run in the sixth and added four more in the seventh to take a 10-4 lead.
The Billikens took game two of the series 5-1 after getting a strong pitching performance from sophomore Ryan Bird.
The Billikens jumped all over USM starter Barry Bowden, scoring four runs in the top of the second. A bases-loaded single by John Musselman gave SLU a 1-0 lead before Landy laced a double to rightfield to score two more. Junior center fielder John Guyre's double brought in Musselman to give SLU a 4-0 advantage.
After jumping out to an early lead, the Billikens rode the right arm of Bird. He gave up one run on four hits while striking out seven in six and two-thirds innings of work.
Bird's performance earned up Conference-USA co-pitcher of the week honors. The right-hander did not allow a two-out hit against the top-hitting team in Conference USA, as Southern Miss was held to one run for just the second time all season. Bird is at the top of the Billikens' rotation with a 4.66 ERA, while his 2.93 ERA in conference play ranks sixth in the league.
"Bird's performance in game two was very crucial," Landy said. "Southern Miss has a lineup full of great hitters that can beat anyone at any time. He silenced them to one run and four hits. I would say our defense in general would be another key factor to victory. We had no errors and came up with some big plays at key moments."
The USM bats came alive in the series finale, scoring all of its 11 runs in the first four innings as the Billikens lost 11-4.
The Billikens had many opportunities to put runs on the board, but they stranded eight runners, compared to just one for the Golden Eagles. Johnny Sweeney paced the Billikens with three hits and two RBIs.
The Billikens (7-26, 3-12 C-USA) open a three-game series at home this weekend against the Louisville Cardinals. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
