RICHMOND, Va. – Fourth-seeded Saint Louis edged out No. 6 overall George Mason, 6-5, thanks to a seventh-inning sacrifice fly and a strong relief effort from Jack Weber in the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship winner’s bracket semifinal Friday afternoon at the Diamond.
 
The Billikens (33-21), who had lost an early lead, rallied in the bottom of the seventh to earn a berth to the A-10 championship title Saturday at noon. SLU will face either George Mason (31-25) again or third-seeded Dayton, who square off late Friday afternoon in the consolation bracket final.
 
Led by Hayden Moore’s three hits, one run and one RBI and two hits and two runs by Cole Smith, the Billikens reclaimed a lost lead in the seventh, taking advantage of a throwing error following a fielder’s choice by Smith that allowed Redding to score from first. A Cameron Swanger sac fly two batters later plated Smith for the eventual game-winning run.
 
Weber (3-2) was stellar over 4.1 frames for SLU, surrendering five hits and just one run with one walk and one strikeout – the only strikeout by any of Saint Louis’ three pitchers in earning the win. Billiken closer Ethan Bell entered the game midway through the last at-bat, facing Reece Woody with a 1-2 count, two outs and two runners on. Woody was Mason’s most effective hitter, collecting two hits and an RBI, but the decision to switch pitchers paid off as Bell induced a flyout to left center to end the game and pick up his fourth save of the year.
 
Saint Louis jumped on the board in the first with a sac fly by Cam Redding to score Moore. A trio of runs in the fourth came off RBI doubles by Knox Preston and Moore and an RBI single from Austin Neuweg, giving SLU a 4-0 lead heading in to the fifth.
 
Mason immediately responded in the fifth with the first three batters of the inning, as Alex Knapp, Evan Blanchard and South Trimble all reached safely. Derek Wood and Jordan Smith each took a bases-loaded walk to push Knapp and Blanchard home, setting up a Connor Dykstra two-RBI single up the middle and a Woody single to left to score the fifth run of the inning and give the Patriots a one-run lead. Dykstra’s two RBI led the Patriots.
 
Logan Rumber took the loss, allowing two runs, one of which was unearned on no hits with one walk.