April 7, 2000

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS - Saint Louis University baseball could not hold onto a one-run lead as the Tulane Green Wave scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to record a 3-2 victory in New Orleans tonight. Billiken starter Dan Shouse (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette) looked to get the complete game, but issued a leadoff walk that scored on a game-tying triple. Brad Wehrfritz (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) came on in relief, yielding a single that plated the winning run.

With the loss, the Billikens fall to 11-17 overall and 3-7 in Conference USA action.

Tulane was on the board first in the bottom of the second when Jake Gautreau doubled to right, advancing to third on a Steve Shirley grounder to short. Shouse struck out the next batter, James Burgess, but Jon Kaplan's bunt single back to the pitcher plated Gautreau.

Saint Louis answered in the top of the fourth when Kurt Evans (Germantown, Tenn./Christian Bros.) hit a lead off home run. Nick Steiner (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) singled to left and advanced to third on Adam Shea's (Chesterfield, Mo./DeSmet) single and an error by Tulane's rightfielder. Jim Bredenkoetter (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet) smacked the inning's third single to plate Steiner and put Shea on third. Dan O'Gara came on in relief of Green Wave starter Barth Melius and ended the threat by striking out Brandon Shockley (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) and getting Brian Haddock (St. Louis, Mo./SLUH) to hit into one of Saint Louis' four double plays of the game.

Shouse was outstanding on the mound throughout the game, yielding just five hits, walking three and striking out three in his eight innings. In the end, it was not enough as the ninth-inning walk would leave the most lasting mark on the game. The offense was there for Saint Louis as the Billiken out-hit the Green Wave 7-6, but the club left four men on base including a pair just 90 feet away at third base. With the loss, Shouse falls to 1-6 on the season, while O'Gara improves to 2-3 on the season with the Green Wave victory.

These two teams square off again tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. The game can be heard live on www.broadcast.com through the Tulane radio network.