Feb. 22, 2004

Final Stats

NASHVILLE - Saint Louis University baseball dropped a 7-5 decision to Belmont this afternoon on a two-out two-run home run by the Bruins' Joel Novak in the bottom of the ninth. The Billikens (0-3) led through 7-1/2 innings, but missed opportunities early in the game came back to haunt them in the waning moments of the contest.

SLU scored a run in three of the first four innings to claim its first lead of the three-game series. Sophomore Casey Moore opened with a double, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Senior Aaron Thompson drew a walk and scored after successive singles from Pat Steinhoff and Johnny Sweeney. Freshman Mark Hankes reached on an error to load the bases, but Bruin pitcher Alex Renes picked up a strikeout and forced a line drive to end the inning with the bases full. A pair of walks and a single in the top of the fourth again loaded the bases with Billikens and sent Renes to the dugout for Brandon Paetznick. Steinhoff lifted a fly ball to right to plate Mueller for a 3-0 lead.

After a single and a walk put two on for the Bruins in the bottom of the sixth, a wild pitch from Billiken starter Kurt Struckhoff cut the Billikens' lead to 3-1. Belmont's Matt Reynolds roped a one-out double to left, which forced Struckhoff to turn the game over to freshman Karl Steinlage. The young right-hander yielded a single to Ben Petsch then the mound to Adam Schroeder with runners on the corners. The freshman gave up an RBI double to the first batter of his college career, but settled down to force an inning-ending double play to maintain a 3-2 Billiken lead.

The Bruin offense was starting to find its way, however. A home run and a wild pitch gave Belmont a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the ninth. The Billiken answered with a leadoff single from pinch hitter John Bridges, who moved to second on Tim Landy's sacrifice bunt. Bruin reliever Will Tucker issued walks to Thompson and Steinhoff to load the bases. Tucker recorded the inning's second out on a strikeout before Drew Eder came off the bench to pinch hit. The senior roped a single to left to plate two runs and give the Billikens a 5-4 lead with a runner on third.

After a routine ground ball ended the Billiken ninth, Belmont opened the bottom half of the inning with a Dan Soukup single up the middle. Landy took the mound looking to close out the game. Soukup stole second, moved to third on a fly out to center and scored on an error to knot the game at 5-5. Josh Brummett grounded out to Landy for the second out, which brought Novak to the plate. After going 3-for-4 against the Bills in Saturday's doubleheader, Novak was hitless in three at-bats Sunday until driving a pitch over the rightfield wall to deliver the 7-5 win.

The Billikens host their first game of the season on Wed., Feb. 25, at 2 p.m. against Indiana State at The Billiken Sports Center.