March 10, 2006

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis freshman Ziggy Moore drove a single through the right side and junior Bill Musselman raced home from second to beat the throw and deliver a 3-2 victory over Illinois-Chicago with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning this afternoon at The Billiken Sports Center. The late rally backed the complete-game outing of junior Ryan Bird.

UIC used a pair of hits to plate a run in the first inning, but the Billikens answered right away with an RBI single from Greg Rodgers in the bottom of the inning. Both pitchers cruised through the next two innings before the Flames forged ahead again in the top of the fourth. Justin Johnson singled through the left side and moved to second on a wild pitch. Mark Hallberg moved him to third with a single to right before Bird got the second out on a pop foul from Byran Nolte. The Bills appeared to be out of the inning but Bart Babineaux's ground ball to third was misplayed, bringing Johnson in for the 2-1 lead. Bird regrouped to get out of the inning and send his hitters back to work.

Musselman drilled the game's only extra-base hit with a double to left center in the bottom of the fourth and came home on Tim Pinnell's single to right field. Moore added a two-out single as the Billikens looked for their first lead of the game, but UIC starter Zach Peterson fielded a Jon Guyre bunt to end the inning.

The Billiken defense helped Bird out of troubled in the sixth and eight innings, but the Flames opened the ninth with a pair of singles that put runners on second and third with no outs. Bird got Babineaux to pop out to Musselman behind the plate for the first out. Musselman recorded the second out by tagging Hallberg after fielding Chad Schroeder ground ball. Bird then fanned Jon Brown to close out the inning.

The bottom of the frame began with Gilbert Marlowe's single through the right side, but he was erased on Musselman's bunt back to the pitcher. Pinnell grounded out to send Musselman to second, setting the stage for Moore, the ninth-place hitter, who stroked the winning single through the right side of the infield.

With the win, the Billikens improve to 6-6 on the season, while Bird evened his ledger at 2-2 as well. UIC fell to 3-8 with Peterson holding a 1-2 mark despite striking out five in 8-2/3 innings. Marlowe, Musselman, Moore and Johnny Sweeney each recorded a pair of hits on the afternoon for the Billikens.

The two teams return to The Billiken Sports Center for a 1 p.m. game on Sat., Mar. 11.