Baseball 5/8/2012 11:31:00 AM Saint Louis Athletics

Baseball Wraps Up Home and Conference Schedules

PREVIEW
The Billikens will wrap up their 2012 home schedule as well as the A-10 regular season by hosting Eastern Illinois on Tuesday and traveling to Charlotte, N.C. over the weekend. Eastern Illinois was the squad that snapped the Billikens' historic 13-game win streak. Charlotte was named the preseason favorite to win the A-10.

LAST WEEK
Saint Louis defeated a hard-hitting SEMO squad before dropping a tough contest to SIUE. However, the Bills responded with a conference sweep of St. Bonaventure. The sweep gave SLU a 14-7 conference mark, netting first place for the Billikens. The sweep also helped Saint Louis achieve their 33rd victory of the season, tying the all-time school record.

BILLIKEN RECORD BOOK:
• Senior Travis Parker holds SLU's all-time mark in career saves with 19.
• Junior Mike Levine is second all-time in career assists with 508. Nick Steiner holds the all-time mark at 562.
• Junior Alex Alemann is third all-time in career wins with 20. John Marcum is second all-time with 21.
• On March 6, 2012 against Southeast Missouri State, the Billikens set a school record for runs scored in a contest with 22. They also set the standard for HBP with 7.
• From March 4 through March 25, Saint Louis recorded 13 straight victories, a program-best win streak.
• The 1-0 victory over St. Bonaventure on May 6 was Saint Louis' 33rd win of the season, matching the school's all-time win mark.

ACROSS THE DIAMOND
Eastern Illinois
The last time the Billikens played the Eastern Illinois, the Bills were in the midst of a 13-game winning streak. However, that streak ended in Charleston on a 6-13 loss to the Panthers. T.J. McManus leads EIU with a .359 batting average, a .641 slugging percentage and a .414 on-base percentage. He has also hit nine round-trippers on the season.

Charlotte
The 49ers sit in ninth place in the A-10 with a 8-9 conference mark. They are led offensively by speedster Shane Brown. He leads the A-10 with a .374 batting average and 29 stolen bases. On the hill, preseason All-American Andrew Smith is the power arm for Charlotte. Last season, Smith was named the A-10 Pitcher of the Year.

A-10 PLAYOFF PICTURE
The Billikens sit in first in the A-10 with an 14-7 conference record. The top six teams will make the conference tournament at Fordham. Saint Louis has one conference series remaining against defending champion Charlotte (ninth, 8-9). Last season, the final team to make the conference tournament had 13 wins.

COMMANDING THE ZONE
The Billikens pitching staff has the fewest walks allowed (113) in the A-10 and is second in strikeouts (327). Among pitchers who have at least 40 innings pitched, LHP Damian Rivera has the fewest walks allowed with eight over 49 innings.

SHUTTING THE DOOR
At the end of the game, Travis Parker has thrown 31.2 innings over 23 appearances, notching nine saves. He has also struck out 28 and has not allowed an earned run this season. Parker has now gone 34.1 innings without allowing an earned run, dating back to last season.

JUNIORS LEAD THE WAY
The junior quad of Alex Kelly, Steve Fernandez, and Grant Nelson have started in all 48 games for Saint Louis this season. The trio forms the heart of the SLU lineup and are among the leaders in every category for the Bills. Kelly leads the team in average, slugging percentage, runs scored and home runs. Fernandez is the team leader in RBIs. Nelson has a team-best 12 doubles. Kelly (.333), Nelson (.320) and Fernandez (.314) are 1-2-3, respectively on the Saint Louis batting average leaderboard.

WALK LIKE A BILLIKEN
The Billikens own a .383 on-base percentage this season, best in the A-10. Their 217 walks also leads the A-10. Senior Marco DiRoma leads the team with 28 free passes, eighth in the conference. Junior Mike Levine is second in the A-10 with 16 hit by pitches. The Billikens have finished in the A-10 top three in walks in every season of head coach Darin Hendrickson's tenure

SEASON OF THE STREAK
Saint Louis has had streaks of all varieties this season. Senior Marco DiRoma and junior Mike Levine have had the longest hitting streaks of the year at eight games. Grant Nelson is in the midst of a 21-game on base streak. Earlier this season, the Bills rattled off 13 consecutive wins, a SLU record winning streak. Junior Alex Alemann had a 34.0 inning streak without allowing an earned run. Senior Travis Parker is currently on a similar streak of 34.1 innings.

NATIONAL RESPECT
The Billikens were ranked 30th in the Mar. 26 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper to earn the first national ranking in school history. The Bills have made the NCAA postseason tournament three times, but have never earned a spot in any of the national polls.

VIGLIAROLOR EARNS A-10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Vigliarolo powered the Billikens to a conference sweep of St. Bonaventure to put Saint Louis in a tie for first place in the A-10. TAgainst the Bonnies, the Smithtown, N.Y., native hit .500 (5-10) with a .600 slugging percentage and .545 on-base percentage. In addition to his balanced production at the plate, he showed prowess in the field, going error-free in 26 chances on the week.

ALEMANN NAMED A-10 PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Junior RHP Alex Alemann earned Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week honors for his efforts in the series opener against Northern Illinois. It is the second time he has been honored. Alemann also received accolades on Mar. 5 for his game against St. Mary's College.

KELLY EARNS CONFERENCE HONOR
Junior Alex Kelly won Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Feb. 27 for his series against Mount St. Mary's. In the four-game series, the Fort Collins, Colo., native ripped his second home run of the season, while maintaining a .583 average. He also crossed the plate eight times, while adding a double and a RBI.

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