The men’s baseball team entered spring break having won two straight games and continued their success by winning eight more consecutive games to tie a school record with 10 straight wins.

The Billikens (16-5) are averaging 8.2 runs a game and only allow 2.7 runs to their opponents during their streak that started with a 6-2 win against Winthrop on March 4.

They followed up that victory with another record-setting performance as they beat Southeast Missouri State 22-11 on March 6.

Sophomore Danny Brennan had a team-record seven at-bats in the game, and the team’s 22 runs and 7 hit by pitches also set new standards.  The team’s 19 RBIs tied their existing record. Freshman Mike Vigliarolo hit his first collegiate homerun in the second inning with a three-run shot.

The Billikens began spring break with their home opener, the first game in a three-game series against North Dakota.  Junior Alex Alemann improved to 3-0 on the year with an Atlantic 10 season-best ERA of 0.31 after seven innings of shutout baseball in the 11-0 victory.

Northern Illinois came to town on March 13 and 14 but couldn’t cool off the red-hot Bills.  SLU took the first game 7-2 and the second game 4-1 behind strong pitching performances by seniors Jim Foster and Jerry Mancuso, and freshman James Norwood.

Western Illinois battled the Billikens and the rain in a delayed game on March 16 but had to face the hottest pitcher in the A-10, Alemann. Alemann allowed a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning, which was the first run he gave up in his last 27.2 innings, in the 6-2 victory for the Bills.  He ended the day giving up just two runs in seven innings and had five strikeouts.

After a rainout game that was supposed to be against the Air Force, SLU won a nail-biter against University of Tennessee-Martin.  The Bills won 3-2, but it took them 10 innings to scratch the winning run across home plate.        On March 20, the Billikens beat Western Illinois for a second time, 7-4, behind Rivera, junior Jon Levin and Parker’s strong-pitching performances.

The Bills will go for their potentially record-setting 11th win by beginning conference play against Temple.  SLU will play a three-game weekend series starting at 6 p.m. on Friday in St. Louis at the Billiken Sports Center.