Cole Smith (11) celebrates with teammates, after scoring what proved to be the game-winning run in SLU’s A-10 Tournament semifinal win over George Mason on Friday. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
| A-10 Semifinal | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 George Mason | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| 4 Saint Louis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | X | 6 | 8 | 1 |
W: SLU – Jack Weber (3-2) L: GM – Nolan Lamere (3-1) S: SLU – Ethan Bell (4)
DeMarcus Dixon
Staff Writer
RICHMOND, VA — The Saint Louis University men’s baseball team earned itself a trip to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championship Round, when it pulled off a late rally to defeat George Mason, 6-5, in a semifinal game Friday afternoon.
The Billikens, who came into the tournament as the No. 4 seed, have won all three games they’ve played at the A-10 Tournament and are now just one win away from winning the conference championship and earning an automatic bid into the NCAA National Tournament.
Saint Louis (33-21) will play the winner of Friday night’s semifinal elimination game between George Mason and Dayton, on Saturday in the championship round.
First pitch for that contest is scheduled for 11 a.m. If SLU wins, they will be the champions. If it loses, the two teams will then play a final winner-take-all, championship game, Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, the Billikens and Patriots battled in an intense contest. SLU took an early 4-0 lead, by scoring a single run in the first inning and three runs in the fourth. But George Mason rallied to take the lead by scoring five runs in the fifth inning.
The sixth-seeded Patriots held that lead until the bottom of the seventh, when the Billikens scored a pair of unearned runs to re-take the lead.
From there, Saint Louis relied on the strong relief pitching of sophomore Jack Weber and junior Ethan Bell to get through the rest of the game. Weber (3-2), who was credited with the win, came in to get the Billikens out of the rough fifth inning. He then remained in the game to get all the remaining outs his team needed, except the last one.
Bell did that to get his team-leading fourth save of the season. George Mason had managed to get two runners on and both advanced into scoring position, with two outs in the top of the ninth against Weber. But Bell got George Mason’s Reece Woody to fly out for the final out and send the Billikens to the championship round.
The pumped up Billikens stormed out of their dugout to congratulate Bell on getting what may have been the biggest out of the season.
Offensively, SLU racked up eight hits — three by leadoff man Hayden Moore, and two more by designated hitter Cole Smith — and also stole four bases. Along with the three hits, Moore also had an RBI and scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Cam Redding.
Smith began the second rally, when he led off the fourth with a hit. He eventually came around to score on a double by Knox Preston. That made it 2-0 Saint Louis.
Austin Neuweg singled home Preston, then scored himself, on a double by Moore to put the Billikens up 4-0.
George Mason answered in the next inning by getting five runs on two hits, two walks, and two hit batters. Most of that came against SLU starter Owen Chaffin, who had only allowed one baserunner before the inning began.
He left the game with Saint Louis still ahead 4-1, but George Mason had the bases loaded. All three of those runners wound up scoring to tie the game, with another runner coming around against Weber to give the Patriots the lead.
The game changed though, in the bottom of the seventh, when SLU got its first two runners on with nobody out.
The big play proved to be a throwing error by George Mason third baseman Evan Blanchard.
With runners at first and second and nobody out, Blanchard fielded a ground ball hit by Smith. Blanchard tagged third to get the first out, then tried to fire the ball to first to complete a double play.
But the throw sailed over the first baseman’s head and into the outfield, which allowed SLU’s Redding to score from first. Smith was able to advance all the way to third. Two batters later, Cameron Swanger skied a sacrifice fly ball that scored Smith to give the Billikens the lead.
That proved to be enough, as Saint Louis won the game to advance to the championship round.
The Billikens will now wait to see who wins the final semifinal game to find out who their Saturday opponent will be.
** UPDATE ** George Mason defeated Dayton, 3-2, Friday night and will be SLU’s championship round opponent on Saturday.
The A-10 Championship Round games will be streamed live on ESPN+.