GAME RESULT
Saint Louis 8, Samford 1
Friday, Feb. 11, 2022
Hattiesburg, Miss.
 
THE BASICS
•Saint Louis scored in five of seven innings and recorded an 8-1 season-opening victory over Samford Friday afternoon at the University of Southern Mississippi's Black & Gold Invitational.
•The win is SLU's first in a season opener since 2017.
•Taylor Hochman went the distance in the circle, while Natalie Sullivan and Gabbie Kowalik drove in two runs apiece.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
•Allie Herron's RBI single in the top of the first inning put Saint Louis on the board first.
•The Billikens made it 3-0 in the third, scoring a run on an error and another on a double steal.
•Sullivan's two-out RBI double in the fourth increased the lead to 4-0.
•Another two-out RBI hit, this time a single off the bat of Kristi Stevenson in the fifth, swelled the advantage to 5-0.
•Samford plated its only run in the bottom of the fifth.
•SLU responded with its biggest inning of the day, a three-run sixth. Sullivan doubled in the first run, and Kowalik put on the finishing touch with a two-out, two-run single.
 
BILLIKEN NOTABLES
•Freshman right-hander Hochman scattered eight hits, struck out five and walked only two.
•Sullivan added a single for a 3-for-3 outing in her collegiate debut.
•Kowalik and Stevenson collected two hits apiece.
•Sadie Wise doubled, while Kayla Swiderski and Jocelyn Abbott had a single apiece.
•Billiken hitters struck out only three times.
 
UP NEXT
The Billikens take on the host team, Southern Miss, Friday at 7 p.m.