Top-seeded St. Joseph’s drops opener in A-10 baseball tournament

St. Joseph’s first foray as the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic 10 baseball tournament got off to a rough start as the Hawks were on the losing end of a 23-8 final against No. 4 Saint Louis on Wednesday.

The Hawks allowed 23 runs on 20 hits. Starting pitcher Will McCausland gave up eight of those runs on eight hits while striking out three in 4⅓ innings.

Senior Luke Zimmerman led St. Joe’s at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Junior Conlan Wall went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Saint Louis was paced by junior Tyler Fogarty who finished 5-for-5 with a double, a homer, and two RBIs. Cam Redding was a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-6 with five RBIs.

The Hawks kept the game close in the early innings, even leading, 7-6, through three, but an eight-run burst from the Billikens in the eighth was followed by three more runs in the top of the ninth, which closed the door and found the A-10 regular-season champs continuing on in the tournament via the loser’s bracket.

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Now, St. Joe’s aspirations of moving into Saturday’s championship game (noon, ESPN+) get a little trickier. The Hawks now need to win two games in the double-elimination tournament on Thursday in order to move into Friday’s semifinal round.

St. Joseph’s will play the winner between No. 5 Richmond and No. 7 Rhode Island in its first game (3 p.m., ESPN+). With a win there, it’s a nightcap against either No. 3 Dayton or the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 2 Davidson and No. 6 George Mason.

St. Joseph’s has made the A-10 tournament in three of the last four seasons, but this was the first time the Hawks entered as the No. 1 seed and their first regular-season conference title since 1974. Fueling their success this season was a 20-5-1 home record (they’re now 27-23-1 overall), featuring a five-game winning streak against A-10 opponents and just four losses since April 21.