(Courtesy Saint Louis Athletics)
The Saint Louis baseball team split a doubleheader against St. Bonaventure and now sit at 7-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Billikens won game one 3-2 in 13 innings before falling in game two 7-8. Sophomore Matt Eckelman (3-1) earned the win in game one, while junior Damian Rivera (2-3) was hit with the loss in game two.
In the first game, SLU jumped out quickly on an Alec Solé lead off triple in the first. He was driven in on a Danny Mannion sacrifice fly in the next at bat. Danny Murphy scored the Bills’ second run in the fourth on a Colton Frabasilio RBI single to left.
St. Bonaventure scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and sixth to tie the game at two through six innings.
Neither team could score again until the 13th inning. Solé led off with a double down the left field line. He later scored on a Bonnie error. Eckelman shut down SBU in the bottom of the frame to seal the 3-2 win for SLU.
In game two, SLU again jumped out to an early lead, scoring twice in the first. The Bills added two more runs in the fifth and another pair in the sixth to take a 6-0 lead to the seventh. Saint Louis tabbed another run in the top of the seventh, but St. Bonaventure responded with three in the bottom of the inning. SBU tacked on four runs in the eighth to tie the game heading to the ninth. The Bonnies won the game on a sacrifice fly to left, giving SLU its first defeat in the A-10 this season.
In the doubleheader, SLU stole seven bases with Mike Vigliarolo and Murphy each going 2-2 on the basepaths.
The Billikens return to action on Tuesday, April 8 when they host SIU Edwardsville at the Billiken Sports Center. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.
