Baseball clings to SLIAC Tournament hopes

Carlinville, Ill. - Fontbonne baseball added two more SLIAC wins to their record as the Griffins look ahead to Iowa Wesleyan and Webster in the coming week. The Griffins are 16-15 overall and 11-5 in conference play. Fontbonne has six divisional games left and are currently third in the West Division, one game behind Westminster and two games behind Webster.

Against Blackburn, Fontbonne won 5-2 and 11-7. Starting pitcher Tanner Carter got the win in game one with Vinnie Santarsiero capturing the save. With a slow start, Fontbonne found themselves down 2-1 until four runs scored in the top of the fifth for the final score. Steven Belovich went three-for-four on the day, driving in the winning run.

In the second game, freshman pitcher Danny Brice got the Griffins out to a 6-4 lead after five innings. Two Griffins subbed on the mound in the fifth that included a run on two walks, a wild pitch, an error and a single before Devon Tolan got Fontbonne out of the jam, sending the following three Beavers back to the bench.

In the final three innings, Fontbonne added five runs to Blackburn's two, securing the sweep. Brice and Tolen combined for nine strikeouts.

The two teams from each division that have the best overall conference record will advance to the SLIAC Tournament. If two teams are tied in conference record, then the divisional record will be the tiebreaker.