ST. LOUIS – Two home runs gave the Saint Joseph's baseball team an early lead, and a strong outing from a freshman southpaw made them stand up as the Hawks opened their series at Saint Louis on Friday with a 3-2 victory at the Billiken Sports Center.
Lucas Rollins earned the win for Saint Joseph's (19-14 overall, 7-3 Atlantic 10), which has now won six in a row. He allowed two runs on four hits, walking one and striking out five in eight innings. Ryan Kelly allowed a walk and a single in the ninth, but recorded back-to-back strikeouts to finish off his fourth save of the season.
Deon Stafford, Jr., gave the Hawks the lead before an out was recorded, taking Matt Eckelman deep for a two-run shot in the top of the first. Marc Giacalone led off the game with a walk, and Stafford deposited an 0-2 offering over the fence in left field for his league-leading 12th home run of the season. Stafford now sits one longball shy of the program's single-season record.
The man whose record Stafford is approaching, John Brue, got on the board himself with his ninth home run of the year, a two-out solo shot to right, to make it 3-0 in the top of the third. It was the 24th of Brue's SJU career, leaving him one behind Jason Hamilton for the program's career record.
After a two-out walk in the first inning, Rollins retired 10 in a row before Saint Louis (16-23 overall, 7-3 Atlantic 10) touched him up for a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. James Morisano led off with a single, notching the first hit of the game for the Billikens, and three batters later, Devin Mahoney kicked off string of three consecutive singles that brought SLU back within a run.
Rollins would then retired the final 10 hitters he faced, sending the game to the ninth at 3-2. The Hawks had a chance to add on to the margin, but Cal Jadacki was thrown out at home trying to score from second on a two-out single by Taylor Boyd.
The Billikens had one last chance in the ninth as Braxton Martinez drew a one-out walk and Morisano followed with a single, but Kelly fanned Trent Leimkuehler and Alex King to close it out.
With the win, Rollins improved to 2-3 on the season. Eckelman went the distance for Saint Louis, falling to 6-3 after allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks. He struck out 11 on the night.
Game two of the three-game series is set for 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
