The St. Louis U. High varsity baseball team has dropped its past three games, two against MCC rival Vianney and one against Troy Buchanan, and has subsequently extended its losing streak to six games and dropped to a 7-14 record in a year that is shaping up to be the Jr. Bills’ first losing season of the 21st century. 

SLUH entered its first of two games against Vianney looking to make a splash in the MCC to conclude their league play portion of the season, but they could barely make a ripple. 

Freshman Andrew DuMont got the start for the Jr. Bills, but had no help from his defense behind him. DuMont was tagged for seven runs, five of which were unearned, in his 1.2 innings of work. He surrendered seven hits and his middle infield committed three errors before the third out of the inning could be recorded. Junior Tucker Thomas relieved DuMont, wiggling out of the second inning jam and tossing a clean third inning frame. Junior John Loretta followed Thomas out of the pen and pitched the final three innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out three Griffins. Yet, by that point, the game was all but over, as the pitching staff received no run support from the Jr. Bills’ offense and they dropped the contest by a score of 10-1. 

Taking their turn at home, the Jr. Bills looked to get even with the Griffins after a poor effort the night before.

The Griffins and the Jr. Bills remained knotted at zero for the first two and a half innings until the Jr. Bills’ offense exploded for a two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning. Spurred by RBIs from junior Tommy Etling and seniors John Wimmer and Jake Noonan, SLUH took a commanding 6-0 lead in the bottom half of the third which was capped off by a bases clearing, three-RBI double from junior Zach Petlansky. 

It looked as if the Jr. Billikens would cruise to a landslide victory, but the Golden Griffins did not go down without a fight. 

The very next inning, the Griffins punched back, as they put up a three-spot which knocked SLUH’s starting pitcher, sophomore Garret Shearer, out of the game. Senior Tommy Pollard relieved Shearer and limited the damage in the third, but surrendered a run of his own in the fourth which narrowed the SLUH lead to two. 

Yet, the Jr. Bills offense struck back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the fifth, highlighted by Thomas’ pinch-hit RBI single. 

Now leading 8-4, the Jr. Billikens turned to junior Jack DuMont to hold the lead. DuMont was making his season debut after being sidelined by a torn meniscus. DuMont struggled to find his control on the mound, as he surrendered only one hit but walked four Griffins, three of whom had scored before Ramspott pulled him out of the game. 

Now only holding a one-run cushion, SLUH turned to junior Coby Spratte with the bases loaded and only one out. Spratte, after a spirited battle, struck out the first batter he faced and put the second out on the scoreboard. He worked the following batter to a 2-2 count, but surrendered a jam-shot base up the middle which scored two and shattered the Jr. Bills’ lead. Spratte allowed another base hit up the middle which plated two more Griffins before he was pulled for sophomore Parker Guthrie.

Guthrie tossed a clean 1.1 innings, but, by that point, the damage had been done and the Jr. Bills were down 11-8. 

The offense sparked some life into the team in the bottom of the seventh, but the rally fell short, as the Jr. Billikens stranded runners on the corners and lost the game 11-8, dropping their record to 7-13 for the year. 

The Jr. Bills celebrated Senior Day and looked to bounce back against Troy Buchanan last Saturday, but couldn’t break out of their slump. 

Pollard got the nod for the Jr. Bills, and tossed four innings in his second start of the year, surrendering four runs and striking out two. Loretta pitched the fifth inning and allowed three runs, two of which were unearned. 

Freshman Charlie Isom-McCall made his varsity debut on the rubber, and gave up one run in 0.2 innings of work. Jack DuMont followed Isom-McCall and recorded the final out of the inning via a strikeout. 

Senior Charlie Albus tossed the seventh inning frame and went 1-2-3 through the Troy lineup, but the offense, outside of hits by seniors Jake Noonan and Andrew Loeffelman, never got anything going and SLUH dropped the contest 8-1.

The Jr. Billikens traveled to Rockwood Summit (13-13) last night, looking to break their six-game losing streak in their final regular season contest of the year. Following the Rockwood Summit game, SLUH (No. 4 seed) will host Kirkwood (No. 5 seed) on May 18 at 4:30 p.m. for the quarterfinals of the Class 6 District 2 Tournament.