April 30, 2002

Final Stats

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University fell 5-4 to Southeast Missouri State in 10 innings of college baseball action at The Billiken Sports Center this afternoon. The Billikens (15-25) rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the eighth, but could not get the winning run across in the ninth, despite a leadoff single. The Indians (23-14) drew a leadoff walk to open the 10th and picked up back-to-back two-out singles to plate the winning run.

Saint Louis had a chance to win the game in the home half of the ninth inning after Kyle Wort posted a single up the middle to open the inning. Junior Andrew Slania replaced him on a failed sacrifice, which allowed pinch hitter Derek Muncy's double play ball to end the inning. Buoyed by getting out of the jam, the Indians capitalized in the top of the 10th. First baseman turned relief pitcher Tim Alvarez drew a leadoff walk, which appeared innocent enough when Billiken closer Dave Guntorius recorded a pair of strikeouts on the next two hitters. SEMO shortstop Zach Borowiak recorded his career-high fifth hit of the game to put runners on the corners with two outs. The Indians' top RBI man, Vern Hatton, stroked a singe through the right side to plate Alvarez and put SEMO on top. After Guntorius hit Tristen McDonald with a pitch to load the bases, it looked like the damage could be much worse. The sophomore got Brian Hopkins to go down looking, however, to end the threat.

The Billikens similarly opened the bottom of the 10th with a leadoff walk by Chad Wrinkle in his first appearance of the season. Pinch runner Dave Samples got to second on Jake Friederich's sacrifice bunt with the Bills' top two RBI producers coming to the plate. Alvarez got both Ryan Murphy and Jim Bredenkoetter to hit balls in the air to seal the win.

SEMO opened the game with three runs in the first three innings before Saint Louis cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. A pair of singles opened the inning, but a double play recorded two outs with just Wort scoring. Senior Kurt Evans drew a walk and moved to second on a balk, which allowed him to score on Friederich's single through the left side. Murphy picked up a single to move Friederich to third for Bredenkoetter's who tied the game with a single to the left side. The Indians reclaimed the lead in the sixth on Borowiak's double, which scored Alvarez who had drawn a leadoff walk to start the inning.

Guntorius took the loss for the Billikens as he was the last of five SLU pitchers on the afternoon. He struck out four and allowed just two hits in 2-1/3 innings, but gave up the winning run. Sophomore Kris Weber threw two scoreless innings after missing Friday's start due to illness. For the Indians, Alvarez picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season. SEMO out-hit SLU 16-9, but left a season-high 16 runners on base.

The Billikens are back in action on Wed., May 1, at Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m.