April 9, 2006

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - A tale of two offenses resulted in Saint Louis splitting a doubleheader at Saint Joseph's Sunday afternoon. Both teams were scoreless through nine innings of game one before the Hawks scratched out a 2-1, 12-inning victory as the Billikens (17-13, 6-3 A-10) managed just three hits in the game. In game two, the SLU offense regained its form in tallying a 6-3 victory with 12 hits in the seven-inning series finale. Junior Ryan Bird struck out a career-high 15 batters in game one, one off the school record. Senior Jon Guyre led the offense with four hits in the twinbill.

Both starting pitchers were dealing early in game one. Ryan Bird held Saint Joseph's to just three hits through the first five innings and saw just two runners reach second base in his nine innings on the mound. SJU starter Jeff Williams did not yield a hit until the ninth inning, but the Billikens were not without opportunities. An error and walk put two on in the second when a ground ball back to Williams ended the inning. Williams' shutout looked precarious in the top of the sixth as well when he issued three walks to load the bases before, again, inducing an inning-ending ground ball.

Against SJU reliever Mark Imbo in the top of the 10th, Guyre slapped a single through the left side and moved to third on Ryan Crespi's double to left. After the Hawks intentionally walked Johnny Sweeney to load the bases, Imbo recorded his second strikeout of the inning. A passed ball gave the Bills a 1-0 lead and moved Crespi and Sweeny up a base as well. Gilbert Marlowe drew a walk to load the bases again, but a ground ball to the left side closed out the inning before SLU could add any more runs.

The Hawks used a leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th to push the tying run across on SLU reliever B.J. Rodrigue. After a scoreless 11th inning, the Billikens could not take advantage of a leadoff walk in 12th. Senior Kurt Struckhoff took over for Rodrigue in the bottom of the frame as the Hawks again led off the inning with a double, this one from Jeremy Jakubowski. A sacrifice bunt put the winning run just 90 feet away with one out. Struckhoff intentionally walked Mike Gentile to set up the double play, but issued a walk to Dustin Onulak to load the bases before hitting Tim Smith with a pitch to plate the winning run.

In game two, the Billikens took an early lead on SJU starter Jason Hessler with two runs in the top of the second. Ziggy Moore drew a two-out walk and moved to second on an error on Tom Pinnell's ground ball. Guyre picked put he first RBI of the afternoon with a single to left. Crespi made it a 2-0 lead with a single to left center. SLU tacked on one more in the top of the third on Bill Musselman's single through the right side to plate Marlowe from second.

After the Hawks got one run back in the bottom of the third on a Jakubowski leadoff double and an RBI single from Mike Blahusch, SLU broke the game open with three runs in the top of the fourth. Guyre led off with a double to right center and advanced to third on Crespi's single up the middle. Crespi moved to second on a passed ball, and both runners scored on Marlowe's two-out single to right field. Musselman made it a 6-1 margin with an RBI double to left but was thrown out trying to advance to third on the throw home.

SLU starter Brock Hewitt worked around a pair of hits in the bottom of the fifth to hold the lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. The Hawks narrowed the gap to 6-3 with two runs in their final inning. A Gentile double down the right field line set up Mike Gers' RBI single, and Jakubowski plated the final run with a double to left center before Hewitt closed out the win with a fly ball.

The Billikens continue their first extended road swing of the season next week with a Tue., Apr. 11, game at UT-Martin before traveling to Xavier for three-game series next weekend.