Saint Louis rallied for four runs in the ninth to post a 9-6 come-from-behind victory over George Mason Thursday night in an elimination game at the Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball Championship, being held at The Billiken Sports Center in St. Louis.
The Billikens, who improve to 34-21, advance to face either Rhode Island or George Washington tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. The A-10 Championship bracket is located here.
Aaron Case led the Billikens at the plate with a 3-for-5, three RBI day, including a game-tying solo home run in the top of the ninth.
It was Case’s homer that sparked the ninth inning rally. Later in the frame, Carter Hanford drove in a run with a singe, and Alex King smoked an RBI double to left. The Billikens completed the scoring when Nick Reeser lifted a sacrifice fly to right.
Ryan Lefner retired the three batters he faced in the ninth inning to pick up his 13th save, a new SLU single-season record.
George Mason scored once in the first, but SLU responded with four in the top half of the third on RBIs by Case, Cole Dubet, Trent Leimkuehler and James Morisano.
However, George Mason scored five in the fifth inning to regain the lead.
A Case RBI double in the top of the seventh made it a one-run game, setting up the late inning heroics by the Billikens.
The SLU bullpen has been strong all tournament. Tonight, it was Josh Garner who carried the torch, going 5-1/3 innings and allowing just two hits while striking out seven.