(Courtesy Saint Louis Athletics)
Brianna Lore and Alex Nickel homered, and Lore tossed five shutout innings to lead Saint Louis past Bradley 8-1 Wednesday night at the Billiken Sports Center.
The victory lifted Saint Louis to 26-19 with two regular-season games to play, a Saturday doubleheader at home against Atlantic 10 Conference opponent La Salle that begins at noon. SLU will look to hold on to its current second-place standing in the conference, which would give the Bills a first-round bye in next week’s A-10 Championship in Bronx, N.Y.
Lore (21-11) set down the first 11 Bradley batters before Marina Groenewegen lined a single to left. Kendall Duffy singled in the fifth for the only other hit against the Billiken left-hander. Lore struck out six and walked one.
Saint Louis grabbed the lead in the first inning. Nickel, who enjoyed her third 3-hit game of the season, led off with a single and stole second. She moved to third on Ellie Huffman’s sacrifice and scored on Kelsey Biggs’ two-out double.
The Billikens made it 3-0 in the third. Huffman produced a leadoff single, and with two outs, Lore hit her third home run of the season to left center.
SLU erupted for four runs in the fifth. Nickel ignited the rally with her third long ball of the year, a shot over the fence in left center. Lindsay Friedman rapped a one-out single and went to third on another Biggs double. Lore’s double plated both runners, giving her a second four-RBI game this season.
Mackenzie Peter’s two-out single scored pinch runner Katie Kroeger to expand the SLU lead to 7-0.
Saint Louis answered a sixth-inning Bradley tally with a run in the bottom of the frame. Nickel singled with one out, went to second on a ground ball and scored on Friedman’s two-out single.
Laney Kneib pitched the final two innings for the Billikens.
