Saint Louis – Patrick Clohisy had a pair of hits and two RBIs, while Henry Litman and Ethan Bell combined for the win and save as Saint Louis took out Saint Joseph's 4-2 in the series opener tonight at the Billiken Sports Center.
 
SLU (20-11, 6-1 A10) wins its 20^th game and the Billikens are off to the team's best start since the 2018 season when they opened the campaign 25-9.
 
Clohisy led the way with a double, two hits, two RBIs and a run scored, while Ethan Sitzman had a pair of hits and an RBI and Austin Neuweg drove in a run of his own. Dominic Cusumano, Cameron Swanger and Knox Preston had a run scored each.
 
Littman started and went six and a third, scattering nine hits, while striking out five and walking none to move to 4-1 on the season. Bell threw a near-perfect two and two thirds of an inning in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out a batter, while walking none to pick up his first save of the year.
 
SJU (12-17, 4-3 A10) had a pair of hits each from Brett Callahan and Ryan Weingartner.
 
The Hawks got on the board first as Luke Zimmerman drove in Weingartner with a sacrifice fly to put Saint Joseph's up 1-0 early.
 
The Bills wasted no time as Cusumano and Preston walked back-to-back and Swanger was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Neuweg drove in Cusumano with a sacrifice fly and Clohisy doubled to right center to plate Swanger and Preston. Sitzman then singled home Clohisy as SLU led 4-1 after two.
 
SJU got another sacrifice fly in the sixth to cut the lead in half.
 
The Saint Louis pitchers only allowed two runners past second base all game as Littman and Bell took advantage of a solid Billiken defense to hold the Hawks' bats in check.
 
The two teams will be back at it tomorrow afternoon with a 2 pm first pitch.