ST. LOUIS – The Saint Louis University baseball team defeated UMass 18-1 on Friday, marking its largest Atlantic 10 victory since joining the conference.
The Billikens opened the scoring in the second inning when Max McGwire came around to score, giving SLU a 1-0 lead.
Saint Louis broke the game open in the fourth, plating six runs with key RBI hits from Austin Neuweg, Ian Blazier, Chase Beattie and Hank Gomric to extend the lead to 7-0.
After UMass scored its only run in the top of the fifth, the Billikens responded with six more in the bottom half. Ethan Sitzman delivered a two-run double, and Brenden Stressler added an RBI single to push the margin to 11-1.
The offense continued in the sixth, with SLU adding three more runs — including a wild pitch and an RBI single from Sitzman. Ian Halverson launched a solo home run in the seventh, and Blazier capped off his big day with a two-run double. Riley Iffrig followed with an RBI double to make it 18-1.
Owen Kelly earned his fifth win of the season, throwing a career-high seven innings and striking out six.
The Billikens return to action for Game 2 of the series on Saturday, May 3, with a new start time of 1 p.m.
