April 5, 2006

Box Score

PEORIA, Ill. - A five-run first inning propelled Saint Louis to an 11-8 victory at Bradley tonight, the Billikens' first road win of the season. Every SLU starter recorded at least on hit with five of them posting multiple hits on the night. Freshman Tom Pinnell led the way with four RBI on three singles, while Johnny Sweeney and Ryan Crespi each posted three hits as well. Junior right-hander Justin Wise picked up his first win as a Billiken, while B.J. Rodrigue threw an inning of relief to collect the season's first save.

The Billiken offense was firing from the first pitch from Bradley starter Tyler Thornton. Jon Guyre led off the game with a single up the middle and scored on Crespi's triple off the wall in left center. Sweeney posted the first of his two doubles to bring Crespi home. Gilbert Marlowe and Tim Landy also added RBI hits in the inning, while Landy made it a 5-0 game when he scored on a wild pitch.

The Braves broke through in the bottom of the second on a two-run double from Colby Luttrell and a sacrifice fly from Peter Malinowski. SLU got all three runs back in the top of the third, aided by a pair of walks. Ziggy Moore hit a bases-loaded single through the left side, and Pinnell plated two more runs with a single as well before Thornton got out of the inning with a double play.

The Braves, meanwhile, began chipping away at the Billiken lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. SLU made it an 11-5 game with three more runs in the top of the sixth after Sweeney led off the inning with a single to center. Greg Rodgers single through the right side to send Sweeney to third, and Marlowe was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Bill Musselman plated Sweeney with a sacrifice fly, and Pinnell against stroked a two-run single to left field to stretch out the lead.

SLU went to reliever Etienne Ratte-Delorme in the sixth inning and seventh innings. The Braves pushed a run across in the sixth but were shut out in the seventh. Facing Eric Mueller in the eighth, Luttrell opened with a double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on Malinowski's sacrifice fly. Trailing just 11-7 in the bottom of the ninth, the Braves opened the inning with a leadoff walk and followed with a Ryan Curry double to left center. Rodrigue took over for Mueller to induce a pop up, an RBI ground out and a pop foul to close out the victory.

With the win, SLU improves to 15-12 on the season, while Bradley falls to 11-14. Wise earned his first decision of the season as he struck out four and allowed four earned runs in five innings of work. Rodrigue did not allow a hit in the ninth inning en route to his first save of the season.

The Billikens continue an eight-game road trip with a three-game series at Saint Joseph's on Fri., Apr., 7, at 2 p.m. (CT).