(Courtesy Saint Louis Athletics)
Saint Louis junior third baseman Braxton Martinez launched a home run to deep left field in the 10th inning to lead SLU to a 6-3 win over George Washington. The Billikens are now 33-18 overall and 14-7 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Brett Shimanovsky (4-1) picked up the win a day after getting his fifth save.
Martinez was SLU’s top hitter in the game, going 3-5 with with a home run. The blast was his sixth of the year.
Saint Louis opened the scoring in the second on a bases loaded walk from Alex King. However, GW scored twice in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 lead.
The Colonials grabbed an insurance run in the fourth to extend their lead to 3-1.
Saint Louis rallied in the seventh on an RBI double from Mike Vigliarolo. He later scored on a GW error to tie the game. The double was Vigliarolo’s 12th of the season and extended his on-base streak to 39 games.
The score remained knotted up at 3-3 until the top of the tenth. Martinez hit the round tripper to give SLU the lead. With two outs, Colton Frabasilio kept the rally alive with a double. George Washington went to the bullpen, bringing in Stopper of the Year finalist Eddie Muhl. The Billikens rattled off back-to-back RBI singles off Muhl to capture the win 6-3.
Next up for the Billikens is the final series of the 2015 season. Saint Louis travels to Saint Joseph’s for a three-game series beginning May 14.