ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University baseball (31-11, 11-5) defeated George Mason (19-24, 6-10) 4-3 here Friday afternoon, as head coach Darin Hendrickson won his 1,000th career game in the victory.

Hendrickson, who is Saint Louis' winningest head coach, eclipsed 500 wins as a Billiken earlier this season and reaches the 1,000-career win mark as a culmination of his 29 years as a head coach.

SLU found itself in an early deficit against the Patriots at the Billiken Sports Center, after the Billikens gave up two runs in the top of the second inning. In the bottom of the next inning, SLU evened the score, with Drew Winters and Cole Smith each driving in an RBI to knot the game up at 2-2.

The game continued in the same back-and-forth fashion as the Billikens found themselves trailing yet again (3-2) in the sixth inning. Hayden Moore answered the call for the home team, though, driving in Knox Preston with a double to left field.

Easton Richter drove in the go-ahead run for the Billikens, as Winters plated the winning score in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Jackson Holmes pitched five full innings in the victory while Jack Weber and Ethan Bell each threw two, the first earning the win and the latter the save.

Defensively, Smith tallied 13 put-outs playing at first base.

The Billikens' series opening win over the Patriots moves them to 30-11 on the season while shifting the program's Atlantic 10 Conference mark to 11-5 with eight regular-season conference games remaining.

The Billikens continue their series against the Patriots tomorrow at the Billiken Sports Center. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. (CST).