SAINT LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Miller Hogan settled-in nicely for the Billikens on Thursday evening. The Saint Louis University hurler went six solid innings and struck-out 12 to lead his team to a 7-1 victory over George Washington under the lights.
Saint Louis (34-17, 18-3 A-10) fell behind early thanks to a solo home run from Dominic D’Alessandro in the second inning, but found its own home run power in the form of Alex King. The shortstop added to his team-leading home run total, collecting numbers 12 and 13 on the season in back-to-back at-bats to give the Billikens the lead for good.
Saint Louis collected 13 hits on Thursday as the bats came to life in the seventh. The Billikens recorded three runs on five hits, two of which were doubles, and assumed full control of the game.
Jake Garella led-off the seventh with a single as Carter Hanford drove him in on the next at-bat. The Billiken third baseman hit his 17th double of the season, a career season-high, and put the first run of the inning on the board.
Parker Sniatynski singled home Hanford, and stole second, which put King at the plate with no outs. With two home runs already under his belt, the Lenexa, Kan., native drove a 1-2 pitch into right field and recorded a double for his third and final hit of the evening.
Kyle Fletcher grabbed one of hit two hits on Thursday later in the inning, which scored Sniatynski, and the Billikens never looked back.
Garella, Hanford, Sniatynski, King and Fletcher all finished with a multi-hit game as Saint Louis cashed-in on its 18th Atlantic 10 victory of the season.
Miller Hogan secured his ninth win and tied a Billiken record in the process. With his 12 strikeouts on the evening, a new career-high in a game, Hogan tied the all-time record for strikeouts in a season with 120, set in 1965 by John Marcum.
Connor Lehmann finished things off and grabbed a three-inning save in the process. It is the second save for Lehmann in 2018.
Saint Louis will have an opportunity to grab the series victory on Friday in game two. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Billiken Sports Center.
