Tuesday was the first time in nearly a month that the Billikens found themselves on the losing end of the scoreboard.
The 13-6 score at the hands of Eastern Illinois University ended the Bills’ 13-game winning streak, the longest such streak in school history.
Four errors by the Billikens and four homeruns by Eastern Illinois kept the game out of reach as SLU’s record falls to 19-6 overall on the season.
This was the first time since Feb. 18 that the Billikens committed four errors in one game.
SLU started off strong, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, seemingly poised to extend their winning-streak to 14 games, but the Panthers wanted no part of that history as they responded fiercely with four runs of their own in the bottom of the first.
Senior Marco DiRoma added an RBI single to bring the Bills within one run, but that was as close as the Billikens would get.
DiRoma also had a walk in the first, which extended his on-base streak to 15 games. Only Arizona State has found a way to keep DiRoma off the bases this season.
Junior Alex Kelly and redshirt junior Steve Fernandez both contributed two hits and two RBIs apiece and provided the main sparks for the lackluster Billiken offense.
Freshman James Norwood took the loss, lasting just one inning, giving up four runs (two of them earned), walking two and striking out one.
Junior Jon Levin threw a scoreless inning and was the only highlight on the mound for SLU. In a poll released Monday by Collegiate Baseball, the Billikens are ranked 30th in the nation.
The Bills rank seventh in the NCAA in walks drawn, with 128, and walks allowed per nine innings, with 2.23. They are also 10th in win percentage (.792), 22nd in sacrifice flies (14) and 23rd in fielding percentage (.978).
DiRoma is seeing national recognition with his strong play as well, as he is 12th in runs per game with 1.28, 28th in triples with three and 27th in walks drawn per game with .94.
Junior pitcher Alex Alemann also has performed well and is ranked seventh in victories (5), 11th in complete games (2), 12th in ERA (1.09), 17th in games started (6) and 23rd in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.23).
The Billikens hope to return to their winning ways this weekend, playing a three-game series against Dayton in Ohio. The Bills will fight to remain undefeated in Atlantic 10 conference play (3-0) and set themselves up for a potentially long postseason run.
