The Jr. Billikens just crossed the midway point of the season, as they nabbed two out of three in the Lafayette tournament, dropped a pair of extra-innings affairs against Chaminade, and have come back with wins over Parkway South and CBC. 

SLUH kicked off the Lafayette Tournament two weeks ago with an 8-3 win over the hosting Lancers. The game was an early pitchers’ duel, as junior Garret Shearer contributed 4.2 stellar innings, yielding three runs (only one earned) on five hits with four strikeouts. 

In a cold and rainy environment, the offense could not get going early, but they busted the game open in the fifth inning, plating seven runs. Senior Alex Shelton batted in three, senior Tommy Etling drove in another two, and junior Henry Zenor scored two more. 

The bullpen shut the door on the Lancers thanks to a scoreless 2.1 innings combined effort from sophomore Henry “McDanks” McDaniels, junior Parker Guthrie, and senior Coby Spratte. 

After a rainout cancellation against Westminster, the Jr. Bills carried their momentum into a Saturday morning matchup against Marquette. The bats never got going for SLUH, as they were only able to scratch across three runs, two of them unearned, on four hits. 

Nevertheless, that was all the Junior Billikens needed since sophomore Andrew DuMont notched 14 strikeouts and only allowed one run over 5.2 innings of work. 

“The key for me was getting ahead in counts and making them swing at pitches outside of the zone in pitchers’ counts,” DuMont said. 

Guthrie came in and closed the door on the Mustangs en route to a 3-1 victory for the Jr. Bills. The four-game win streak was halted right there, though, as the offense continued to sputter. 

Against St. Dominic, Senior Jack DuMont pitched a quality start, hurling 5.0 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits, while striking out nine. Spratte finished the game, allowing one run and striking out two in an inning of work, but there was no offense to show for. 

The Jr. Bills mustered just 3 hits in 26 plate appearances and struck out 8 times which resulted in a 4-1 loss to St. Dom’s. 

SLUH opened up MCC play the following week with two games against the Chaminade Red Devils. 

Shearer pitched fabulously, tossing 7.0 innings, allowing one unearned run, and striking out 8. The Red Devils squeaked across a run in the third inning, and it looked like that might be enough to win the game. 

On another bleak day for the offense, Zenor connected for a game-tying single, scoring senior John Loretta from second base, thus sending the game to extras. 

Chaminade senior Charlie Weber matched Shearer, throwing 8.1 innings and allowing the Jr. Bills’ lone run of the afternoon. 

Spratte relieved Shearer for the 8th, and he threw a quick 1-2-3 six-pitch inning, but the bats still didn’t gain any traction. 

Chaminade led off the bottom half of the ninth with a single off of Spratte, and they moved the runner over to third by virtue of a sac bunt and a sac fly. Senior Tucker Thomas came in to get the final out, but the Red Devils found a hole in the infield and walked off the game by a score of 2-1. 

The same trend of recurring pitchers’ duels persisted in the next game against Chaminade. 

Andrew DuMont threw another gem for the Jr. Bills, totaling 7.0 innings, 2 hits, no walks and 11 strikeouts. 

DuMont has shined for SLUH in his past three starts, as he has thrown 17.2 innings and allowed 1 run, while recording 34 strikeouts and just 1 walk. 

“I stay in control on the mound and I’m always composed out there,” Dumont said. “I just try to have fun and not be stressed.” 

Yet again, SLUH was matched by the opposing pitcher as the Red Devils’ Quinn Council threw 7.1 innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 10. 

The game was knotted at nothing, and for the second consecutive game, it headed into extra innings. The Jr. Bills could never push any of their five hits across the plate, and ended the day shut out for the first time this season. 

The elder DuMont entered the game and yielded two runs on two hits in the 8th, resulting in a 2-0 loss for the Jr. Billikens, their third in a row. 

The Jr. Bills came back from Easter Break with a goldfish mindset and knocked off Parkway South to get back on track. 

Senior Johnny McArthur got the nod and threw 3.1 innings, allowing two earned runs in his first start of the season. Senior Tucker Thomas and junior Nick Heinlein put up scoreless frames in the final 3.2 innings in relief. 

The Jr. Bills had averaged a poor 0.66 runs per game over their short losing streak, but the bats finally came off of their shoulders against the Parkway South Patriots. 

In a tightly contested game, the Jr. Bills notched three runs in the top of the seventh inning en route to a 7-4 win. 

Senior Mikey Floretta, sophomore Charlie Isom-McCall, and senior Tommy Etling each contributed an RBI, but junior Henry Zenor came in clutch with a two-hit, 2 RBI day. 

“My approach is to hit the ball up the middle,” Zenor remarked. 

SLUH kept it rolling with a game against MCC rival CBC at Sheridan Stadium. 

The 5th-ranked Cadets rolled out senior Duke commit Camron Poe, but his fastball did not fool anybody. The Jr. Billikens jumped on them early with a four spot in the first inning thanks clutch RBI hits from Shelton, Isom-McCall and sophomore Dean Lyon. 

Shearer pitched masterfully yet again, throwing 5.0 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts against CBC’s supposedly star-studded lineup. 

“I think my ability to pound the strike zone really helped me,” Shearer said. “I trust my defense to make plays behind me and they did that.”

Shearer has sparkled in his last three starts, as he has allowed 1 earned run in 16.2 innings, while striking out 16 and only walking 4. 

“I credit my recent success to an increased level of confidence in myself,” Shearer said.  “I believe that no matter who steps in the box I can get them out, and it helped to have Shelton behind the plate.” 

The Jr. Billikens never looked back, as they were able to hold onto a commanding win against the Cadets. Isom-McCall added another RBI to his daily total and turned a clutch 4-3 double play with the bases loaded to get Shearer out of the jam. 

Junior Dillion Ramella ripped an RBI single in his first at bat of the season to put the icing on the cake for the Jr. Bills and the combined efforts of Jack DuMont, junior Michael Baudendistel, and Guthrie slammed the door on a CBC comeback to finish with a 7-3 victory. 

SLUH came back last night and swept the Cadets for the first time since 2014 with an 8-6 nail-biting victory. 

Andrew DuMont hurled 6.0 quality innings with three earned runs and five strikeouts, and Guthrie came in and slammed in the door in the 7th for the second game in a row and his third save of the season. 

The bats have finally awoken for the Junior Bills, as they put up 7+ runs for the third consecutive contest. Heinlein hit an opposite field home run for the Junior Bills’ first of the season, and then Guthrie followed him up with a 2-run moonshot homerun to give SLUH enough cushion to escape with a win. 

“I’m a team player,” Guthrie said. “I just play baseball.” 

The Jr. Billikens have crossed into the second half of their season, and they will look to get in a groove, as they ended the first half on a bit of a downward trend. 

“I think that we have games that don’t represent the team we are, but we have also had games where we are at our best,” Etling said. “If we play our game we should win most of the games in the second half of the season.”

Thus, they feel confident they will be able to make a run into June. 

“We are a very deep team especially with pitching. Our pitchers will give us a chance every game,” Etling remarked. “If we can utilize our defense and get the bats going consistently, I can see us going very far.”

SLUH will host Hickman out of Columbia, Mo. tonight at 6 p.m., and will continue their pursuit of an MCC Championship with a pair of games against the De Smet Spartans next week.