Feb. 24, 2006

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis baseball dropped its home opener to Creighton 11-2 this afternoon at The Billiken Sports Center. The Billikens (0-3) but could not overcome three errors, which led to five unearned runs, and seven walks issued by four pitchers. Offense was a similar struggle for SLU in just its third game of the season as the Bluejays out-hit the Billikens 11-6. Junior Mark Hankes provided a spark off the bench with two hits in two at-bats.

Creighton took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single from Chris Gradoville, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly from Chad Ogen. SLU starter Brock Hewitt cruised through the third inning before a wild pitch and a pair of singles plated the Bluejays' second run in the top of the fourth. The Billikens looked to answer in the bottom of the inning as senior Johnny Sweeney drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Greg Rodgers' single up the middle. Creighton starter Adam Schaecher posted the third of his four strikeouts on the afternoon for the first out and forced a pair of ground balls to end the inning and leave Sweeney stranded on third.

Creighton continued to play small ball in the fifth, using a leadoff single from Odgen, a pair of sacrifice bunts and a wild pitch to scratch across another run for a 3-0 lead. Meanwhile, Schaecher continued to control the Billikens at the plate.

The floodgates opened for the Bluejays in the seventh inning as Hewitt began to labor and the Billiken bullpen struggled with its control. Hewitt issued a leadoff walk to Brandon Knox and saw him go to second on a wild pitch and reach third on a late throw on Ryan Urzendowski's sacrifice bunt attempt. Urzendowski tried to steal second and forced a run-down that yielded the Billikens' second error of the day and allowed Knox to score. After Hewitt walked Ross Sinclair, the Bills went to sophomore left-hander Eric Brewer out of the bullpen. A pair of walks made it a 5-0 game and brought junior Justin Wise to the mound. Back-to-back singles and a sacrifice fly pushed the Creighton lead to 8-0 before the Billikens got out of the inning.

Creighton added three more runs, all unearned, in the top of the eight, before the Billikens eked out a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. Facing reliever David Merchant, Hankes led off the frame with a single through the right side, moved to second when Neil Graser was hit by a pitch, reached third on a walk issued to B.J. Rodrigue and scored when Sweeney was hit by a pitch. Rodgers plated Graser with a sacrifice fly for his first RBI as a Billiken.

On a blustery day at The Billiken Sports Center, neither team recorded an extra-base hit. Schaecher collected his first win f the season, allowing just four hits and striking out four in six innings. Hewitt took the loss for SLU, allowing four earned runs on six hits in six innings of work.

The two teams square off again on Saturday at 1 p.m. at The Billiken Sports Center.