March 14, 2000
Box Score
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University baseball rallied in the eighth and shut down a ninth inning rally to defeat Southwest Missouri State 3-2 this afternoon at The Billiken Sports Center. A pair of lead off singles led to two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the Billikens on top and closer Wes Jaillet (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) halted the Bears in the top of the ninth as SLU improved to 5-9 on the season.
SMS got on the board early as lead off hitter Matt Gardner put one over the right field wall. Billiken starter Torrey Lombardo (Wildwood, Mo./Maple Woods JC) settled down quickly and kept the Bears off the board for the remainder of his five innings on the mound. Relief pitcher Ben Hutton (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) yielded the Bears' only other run in the top of the sixth on Ryan Howard's one-out single.
The Billiken bats finally came alive in the bottom of the sixth as they solved the Bears' third pitcher of the afternoon, Matt Skyles. John McLaughlin (Glencoe, Mo./Eureka) hit a two-out single to center and later scored on Jim Bredenkoetter's (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet) single.
The Bears' Jason Frey took the mound in the seventh and retired the Billikens in short order. Saint Louis liked what they saw the next time around as Adam Shea (Chesterfield, Mo./DeSmet) and McLaughlin each singled to start the eighth. Bredenkoetter's sacrifice bunt moved the pair over to second and third. Pinch hitter Mike Orrico (Boca Raton, Fla./Olympic Heights) grounded out to the first baseman, allowing Shea to tie the game. Shortstop Paul Miles (St. Louis, Mo./Jefferson College) put a double into left field that brought home McLaughlin for the winning run. With two outs and Miles on second, the Billikens drew a pair of walks to load the bases for Brandon Shockley (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central), but the junior grounded out to third to end the inning.
Hutton gave up a lead off single in the top of the ninth and was replaced by Jaillet after the runner reached second on a sacrifice bunt. Howard flied out to left to put the tying run on third with two outs before Jaillet struck out John Gallia to end the threat.
