SLU’s Tyler Fogarty (15) gets congratulated after hitting a home run in Wednesday’s loss to Richmond. (Photo courtesy: SLU Athletics)

NCAA Baseball	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
#4 Richmond (26-31)	3	0	3	0	2	1	4	0	0	13	11	1
#1 SLU (37-15)	0	0	0	2	0	3	3	2	0	10	13	2

WP: Esteban Rodriguez – RICH (5-2) LP: Jackson Holmes – SLU (9-3)

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

TYSONS, VA — The No. 1 seed Saint Louis University baseball team dropped its first game in the 2024 Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball Championship in a 13-10 slugfest, Wednesday afternoon against No. 4 seed Richmond.

The Billikens and Spiders combined to hit nine home runs on the day, with Richmond smacking five of them on its way to the win.

Saint Louis got two home runs apiece from Tyler Fogarty and Easton Richter, and outhit Richmond 13-11. But it wasn’t enough, as the Spiders took advantage of its baserunners and led the entire game, while SLU left eight runners on throughout the game.

The victory moved Richmond into the winner’s bracket of the A-10 Tournament, where it will face No. 2 seed VCU on Friday, in a single game where the winner will advance to the championship round on Saturday.

SLU fell into the loser’s bracket, where it will need to win three games in a row to advance to the championship round. That first contest will come at 2 p.m., on Thursday, when the Billikens will play No. 7 seed Saint Joseph’s. The winner of that game will advance to another elimination game, later on Thursday against either No. 3 seed Dayton or No. 5 seed George Washington.

Any more losses for Saint Louis would mean it would be eliminated and probably the end of its season. The winner of the final elimination game on Thursday would play the loser of the Richmond/VCU game on Friday with the winner moving on as the second team in the championship round.

SLU’s path to a possible A-10 championship will no doubt be difficult. And it all began with a tough start on Wednesday.

Richmond scored three runs in the top of the first and added three more in the top of third to take a 6-0 lead before the Billikens had even gained a feel for the game.

Richter got the Billikens on the board in the bottom of the fourth, when he mashed his third homer of the season — a two-run shot that made the score 6-2. Richmond responded quickly though and pushed its lead to 9-2 after it batted in the sixth inning.

Fogarty hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the sixth and Preston added a two-run double to pull Saint Louis to within 9-5. But in its next at-bat, Richmond added to its lead. The Spiders scored four runs in the top of the seventh to make the score 13-5.

Richter hit his second homer of the day — and fourth of the season — in the bottom of the seventh. Then Fogarty added his 11th dinger of the year in eighth to make the score 13-10. But that was as close as the Billikens would get. It was only the second time all season that SLU reached double-digits in runs but still lost the game.

Jackson Holmes (9-3) started the game for Saint Louis and took the loss. He gave up the first four runs of the game, on three hits and two walks, in two innings of work.

SLU’s overall record is 37-15, but the Billikens will have to do nothing but win the rest of the weekend to make sure it earns a berth into the NCAA Tournament, which will begin nationwide next week.

If Saint Louis doesn’t win the A-10 Tournament, it may still have a longshot chance at receiving an at-large bid into the national tournament. But that’s always a difficult hope for small conference teams. That’s why it’s so important the Billikens find a way to somehow win the A-10 Tournament.

First pitch on Thursday will be at 2 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

SCORING SUMMARY

Logo	Team	Inning	Play Description	RICH	SLU
	RICHMOND	1st	Bernstein singled, RBI; Whitley scored.	1	0
	RICHMOND	1st	Jaffe homered to center field, 2 RBI; Bernstein scored.	3	0
	RICHMOND	3rd	Arcamone homered to left field, 3 RBI; Jaffe scored; Bernstein scored.	6	0
	SLU	4th	RICHTER (3) homered to right field, 2 RBI; FOGARTY scored.	6	2
	RICHMOND	5th	Jaffe homered to left field, 2 RBI; Bernstein scored, unearned.	8	2
	RICHMOND	6th	Larson, C homered up the middle, RBI.	9	2
	SLU	6th	FOGARTY (10) homered to left field, RBI.	9	3
	SLU	6th	PRESTON doubled to left center, 2 RBI; SMITH, C scored; RICHTER scored.	9	5
	RICHMOND	7th	Jaffe singled through the left side, RBI; Bernstein scored.	10	5
	RICHMOND	7th	Arcamone homered to right field, 3 RBI; Pacheco scored; Jaffe scored.	13	5
	SLU	7th	RICHTER (4) homered to right center, 3 RBI; FOGARTY scored; SITZMAN scored.	13	8
	SLU	8th	FOGARTY (11) homered to left field, 2 RBI, unearned; MOORE scored, unearned.	13	10