April 22, 2006

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - With a steady approach at the plate and timely pitching, Massachusetts topped Saint Louis 8-5 this afternoon in Atlantic 10 baseball action at The Billiken Sports Center. The Minutemen scored at least once in six of the nine innings, out-hitting the Billikens 14-11. Senior Jon Guyre led SLU with three hits, while sophomore Greg Rodgers added two RBI.

The Minutemen took advantage of a walk to leadoff hitter Ryan Franczek to open the first. After a singled and a sacrifice moved him around to third, Ryan Adamski picked up the RBI with a ground out. UMass made it a 2-0 lead on Bill Rankin's triple to right center, which plated Jim MacDonald, who had led off the inning with a single.

SLU knotted things up in the bottom of the second as Johnny Sweeney led off with a double tucked just inside the left field line. Casey Moore brought him home with a single to right field. After Moore moved to second on the throw home and took third on a wild pitch, he scored on Tom Pinnell's sacrifice fly to center. A Matt Mach single just beyond the shortstop sent Tim Landy, who had been hit by a pitch, to second and kept the inning going. UMass starter Chris Lloyd registered a pair of strikeouts to hold the tie.

After a scoreless third inning in which both teams went down in order, the Minutemen went back on top in the fourth as Joe Cotone started a two-out rally with a single up the middle. Rankin followed with a single on a hit and run that allowed Cotone to reach third. With Derrick Durepo at the plate, Rankin broke from first, triggering a throw from Moore, which sent Cotone toward home where he beat the throw back to the plate.

UMass put together its first two-run inning in the fifth with Franczek leading off with a triple to right center and scoring on a sac fly from Lou Prioette. Adam Tempesta followed with a double to center, and Bryan Garrity traded places with him on a two-out double to left center for a 5-2 margin.

The Billikens again answered the call with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game. Guyre got things going with a single and moved to second when Lloyd walked Crespi. Gilbert Marlowe laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring position for Rodgers' double to left center. Moore then bounced a single off Lloyd's ankle to put runners on the corner. Clearly struggling after taking the hit, Lloyd sent a wild pitch past Garrity to allow Rodgers to score the tying run then walked Landy before turning the game over to Ryan Walczak. With runners on first and second, Pinnell sent a ground ball toward the shortstop who went for the force at second but saw Landy beat the relay to load the bases. Walczak induced the same ground ball off the bat of Mach to close out the inning.

Undeterred by losing the lead, the Minutemen went right back to work in the top of the sixth with Cotone leading off with an infield single. After moving to second on a balk, he took third on Rankin's sacrifice bunt. Durepo picked up what proved to be the game-winning RBI with a single up the middle. With one out and a runner on third, the Billikens went to the bullpen for Etienne Ratte-Delorme. The senior right-hander yielded a single to Prioette for a 7-5 UMass lead before inducing a ground ball to wrap up the inning. A pair of singles and an error in the top of the seventh pushed the lead to 8-5.

The Billikens looked for another late rally in the eighth inning, trying to capitalize on a wild pitch that allowed Guyre to reach first on strike three. After Guyre stole second, Walczak walked Marlowe, then, facing Rodgers, turned the inning over to Mike Dicato. The freshman right-hander threw just one pitch, which Rodgers sent to center field to end the rally.

UMass was still not out of the woods in the bottom of the ninth when Sweeney beat out an infield single and took second on a throwing error by the shortstop to lead off the inning. After Dicato walked Landy, his third free pass of the game, Adamski came in from his position at first base looking for his second save in as many days. Pinch hitter Bill Musselman made it difficult with a single through the left side to load the bases with just one out. SLU went to another pinch hitter in Jerry Vickery, but Adamski closed out the win by getting Vickery to ground into a double play to end the game.

Walczak collected the win for UMass, which improved to 8-18 overall and 6-8 in A-10 play with its second-straight win. SLU fell to 19-18 overall and 8-6 in the league as starter Brock Hewitt took the loss. Guyre's three hits were a game high, while Prioette matched Rodgers' two RBI for game-high honors.

The two teams close out the conference series on Sun., Apr. 23, at noon at The Billiken Sports Center.