Feb. 25, 2006

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis baseball mounted a rally in the ninth inning but could not make up enough ground to avoid a 9-5 loss to Creighton this afternoon at The Billiken Sports Center. The Billikens (0-4) tallied three runs in the frame, including two on Johnny Sweeney's two-out double to right center, but Bluejay reliever Scott Reese got a fly ball to wrap up the team's second win over SLU.

Junior starter Ryan Bird worked out of trouble in the first inning, recording his first of five strikeouts on the afternoon with two outs and the bases full of Bluejays. The right-hander closed the second inning with a strikeout and worked around a pair of hits to keep Creighton off the board in the third.

SLU's offense took its first lead of the series in the bottom of the third after Bill Musselman reached on an error to lead off the inning. Tom Pinnell sacrificed him to second, and Jon Guyre's single through the left side moved him to third. Ryan Crespi picked up the RBI on a ground ball to short for a 1-0 Billiken lead.

After Bird retired the side in order in the fourth, the Bluejays took advantage of a hit batter and a walk in the top of the fifth. Chris Gradoville continued his hot hitting against the Bills with a single to left to load the bases with just one out. Chase Odenreider poked a single to left to give the Bluejays a 2-1 lead, and Darin Ruf drove one up the middle for a 3-1 margin before Bird induced a pair of pop-ups to end the inning.

Freshman dave Sever took over for Bird on the mound in the sixth and struggled in his first outing at home. Ross Sinclair drove a double to center and scored on John Nowaczyk's single to right. Zach Daeges made it a 6-1 game with a two-run home run to right center.

The Billikens scored again in the seventh inning after Musselman reached on an error and Pinnell plated him with a two-out double to center. CU reliever Tony Bilek threw out Jon Guyre's trying to bunt his way on to end the threat. Creighton went on to add two more runs in the eighth and one in the ninth before the Billikens looked to mount a last-inning rally.

Pinnell drew a one-out walk from reliever Scott Reese and moved to second on Guyre's single through the right side. Crespi drove in his second run of the afternoon with a double to the left field wall. Reese got Gilbert Marlowe to tap one back to him for the second out. Sweeney stroked a double to right center, plating both Guyre and Crespi and cutting the lead to 9-5. Reese dug in to force Rodgers to fly out to center to end the game.

Lewis picked up the win for Creighton as he struck out two and allowed just one unearned run in four innings. Bird suffered the loss for the Billikens despite striking out five and allowing three runs in five innings of work. Crespi and Sweeney each went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI for the Billikens, while Nowaczyk led all hitters with three hits, and Odenreider's three RBI were a game high.

The teams wrap up their three-game series on Sun., Feb. 26, at 1 p.m. at The Billiken Sports Center.