ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Chase Beattie’s solo home run in the sixth inning broke a tie and lifted the Saint Louis Billikens to a 2-1 victory over the Bradley Braves in a tightly contested series opener at Billiken Sports Center on Friday.

The game, a pitcher’s duel for much of the night, turned on one swing. With the score knotted 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Beattie, the Billikens’ designated hitter, drove a pitch from Bradley reliever Ryan Schaffnit down the left-field line for what proved to be the decisive run. It was his second hit of the game.

Bradley had taken an early lead in the third inning. Luke Skinner led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI single by Michael Quic. That run came against Saint Louis starter Ben Cherico, who otherwise delivered a strong performance. Cherico earned the win, allowing one run on four hits over five innings, striking out four and walking one.

The Billikens answered in the fourth against Bradley starter Lou Levy. Beattie doubled and scored on a sacrifice bunt by John Canzoni, tying the game at 1. Levy was effective, giving up just one earned run on four hits in 4 1/3 innings, but did not factor in the decision.

After Beattie’s go-ahead homer, the Saint Louis bullpen slammed the door. Following Cherico, Colin Hawkins, Max McGwire and Loren Georger combined for four scoreless innings of relief. Georger was particularly dominant, striking out four of the six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the save.

The Braves threatened in the seventh, putting two runners on with one out, but McGwire induced an inning-ending lineout to the pitcher. In the ninth, Cal Leighton singled with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate, but Georger struck out Skinner looking to end the game.

Saint Louis outhit Bradley 9-6. Ian Blazier went 3 for 4 for the Billikens, while Hank Gomric added two hits. Skinner led Bradley with two doubles.

With the win, Saint Louis improved to 5-9 on the season. Bradley fell to 4-8. The two teams are scheduled to continue their three-game series on Saturday.

The most important part of the game was the sixth-inning sequence where Chase Beattie’s solo home run broke a 1-1 deadlock. This immediately followed a top half of the inning where Bradley had a runner in scoring position with one out but failed to score, a momentum shift the Billikens capitalized on decisively. The homer transformed a tense pitchers’ duel and provided the only run Saint Louis’s bullpen would need to protect.