The Saint Louis University baseball team had a familiar feeling of frustration as they left the Billiken Sports Center after facing Tennessee-Martin on Wednesday.
After sprinting out of the gates early with a lead, the team yielded, then fought back time and time again, only to fall by a score of 9-7 in the 11th inning. The loss dropped the Billikens to 6-24 on the season.
SLU was unable to capitalize with two outs and runners in scoring position, allowing the Skyhawks to steal the victory.
There were many impressive performances in the loss. Senior first baseman Scott Peden extended his hitting streak to 22 games in dramatic fashion with a two-run home run in the third inning, and later added a double.
When asked about the changes that have occurred during the hit streak and the significance of it all Peden said, "Nothing's really changed in the way I've swung the bat. The streak is something that I hope to continue, but it's been very frustrating, because the team's been losing. It's something that I'll look back upon when the season's over and be happy about."
Senior captain Drew Eder went 2-4, with two runs scored. Junior outfielder Johnny Sweeney continued swinging the hot bat as he went 2-4 with two RBIs.
When asked about the key to his success, Sweeney said, "Keeping things simple. In the past I would try to make the perfect swing for the perfect pitch, but baseball is a difficult game already. There's no need to make it any more difficult."
The hurlers struck out a season -high 14 batters, led by starter Adam Schroeder. The junior right-hander struck out nine batters in six innings while giving up five runs. But like so many other games this season for the Billikens, the positives were overshadowed by the disheartening bottom line of the final score. Sweeney expressed his dissatisfaction.
"We played down to our competition tonight. This UT-Martin team is not a very good team, but we played down to their level, and may have done a little bit of overlooking them. We play TCU and Southern Miss and all these good teams in Conference USA, and we overlook this team and get embarrassed," said Peden.
Last weekend, SLU faced the University of Cincinnati Bearcats in a three-game set.
They won the first game 6-2 as sophomore Eric Rohr pitched six innings of shutout baseball.
The game was put to rest by senior DH John Bridges' 3 RBI double in the seventh inning.
The game was punctuated in the eighth as outfield Jon Guyre ended any chance UC had at rallying with a marvelous catch at the wall, robbing a home run.
In the second game of the series, the Billikens' usually sound defense let the team down as the team lost 6-3.
Starter Ryan Bird gave up only two earned runs, and Sweeney drove in all three runs in the loss. SLU was unable to come up with two-out hits with runners in scoring position in the late innings.
The rubber match went the way of UC as the Billikens lost by a 9-3 margin. SLU left 11 runners on base, and failed to take advantage of scoring chances once again. Tuesday's scheduled game against Southwest Missouri State was rained out. It will be rescheduled for Wednesday, April 27th at the Billken Sports Center. The team will be in Hattiesburg for the weekend to take on nationally ranked Southern Mississippi for three games.
The atmosphere is always tough for visiting players, since hecklers pack the stands during Golden Eagles home games. Sweeney looks forward to turning things around at the tough venue.
"It doesn't help to sit and mope after a loss. The great thing about baseball is that there's always another game. We just have to keep a level head and get ready for Southern Miss.," he said.
Peden added, "There are 2,700 people there at about every game. It's going to be a tough game. We need to play smart, errorless ball. We've been getting some pitching as of late, and if we're going to win, it's going to be a 4-3, 5-4 type game. We can't expect to beat these guys just by out-hitting them."
