ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis rose to 29-14 on the year and 11-7 in Atlantic 10 play with a 8-3 win over the Explorers today. The Billikens are now just one win away from reaching the 30-win plateau for the fourth time in school history. The Bills have 13 games remaining and are three wins away from matching the school record set in 2010.

The Explorers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring runs in the first and third innings before Saint Louis got rolling. In the fourth inning, the Billikens sent three runners across the plate to take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth. La Salle answered with a run in the bottom of the frame to tie the ball game at 3-3 through four.

The Bills did not let off the gas and scored four times in the fifth inning. In a rough inning for the Explorers, freshman Alec Sole reached on a fielding error to lead off. He moved to second after junior Mike Levine was hit by a pitch for the third time in the series. A wild pitch moved Sole and Levine into scoring position. Senior Jerry Mancuso ripped a single to first base, scoring Sole and moving Levine to third. Junior Alex Kelly shot a single through the left side, scoring Levine and bringing the score to 5-3 in favor of SLU. Another wild pitch advanced Kelly and Mancuso and a throwing error on the play scored Mancuso while sending Kelly to third. Freshman Mike Vigliarolo hit a sacrifice fly to score Kelly. After the dust settled, SLU held a 7-3 lead over La Salle.

Mancuso had an RBI single in the sixth to bring the score to 8-3, where it remained the rest of the game.

Freshman Nick Bates picks up the win and is now 4-1 on the year.

The Billikens will take on Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday at the Billiken Sports Center. First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m.