May 13, 2006

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - In a see-saw battle that saw one team dominate and then the other, Rhode Island's late runs delivered at 12-10 win over Saint Louis this afternoon in Atlantic 10 baseball action at The Billiken Sports Center. The Billikens (26-23, 13-10 A-10) held the Rams (31-11, 16-5) scoreless through the first five innings, while tacking on at least one run of their own over that stretch. The tide turned in the sixth, however, and URI sustained that momentum for a victory, overshadowing seven Billikens with multiple hits, including two from Ryan Crespi, who matched his career high with three RBI as well.

The Billiken offense went to work quickly with Jon Guyre dropping a triple into deep center field, beating the defensive shift the Rams put on toward right. URI starter Adam Perkins retired the next two hitters and was ahead in the count to the third when he uncorked a wild pitch that brought Guyre home for an early 1-0 lead. SLU added another run in the second as Matt Mach drove a two-out single up the middle.

SLU starter Dave Sever, who had avoided trouble early in the first inning, tore through the Rams in the second and third frames as his offense continued to build its lead. Johnny Sweeney pounded his second home run of the season, a two-run shot over the wall in right, pushing the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the third. The lead extended to 6-0 in the fourth on a wild pitch and a Greg Rodgers RBI laser to left. A third-straight two-run inning in the fifth gave the Bills an 8-0 cushion as Crespi picked up a pair of RBI on a two-out single that snuck just through the third baseman and shortstop on the left side.

The Rams began to dial in on Sever in the top of the sixth with Daryl Holcomb dropping a double just inside the left field line. He scored on Wayne Russo's single through the left side, and Scott Brown smashed a home run to right center, cutting the lead to 8-3. Sever gave up another single in the inning, but also added a pair of strikeouts to maintain a five-run margin. The Billiken offense kept up the pressure with back-to-back singles form Rodgers and Musselman. A wild pitch moved both up a base, and reliever Matthew Bruderek intentionally walked Gilbert Marlowe to load the bases with no outs. A pop-up and a double-play ball closed the first inning in which the Billikens failed to score.

The defensive stand was the momentum shift the Rams needed, and they pulled within one with four runs on four hits and an error in the top of the seventh. A pair of singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with just one out, and Brown tacked on two more RBI with a single to left, cutting the lead to 8-5 and second SLU to the bullpen for Kurt Struckhoff. The senior right-hander picked up the inning's second out quickly, but saw the Billikens' first error of the game plate a run and extend the inning for Zach Zaneski, whose double down the left field line narrowed the Billiken lead to 8-7. With a runner on third, Josh Nestor lined one up the third base line where B.J. Rodrigue made a leaping grab to preserve SLU's advantage.

Facing their third pitcher of the afternoon, the Billikens added a run in the bottom of the seventh. Mach led off with a single up the middle, and, thanks to smart base running, moved to third on Guyre's bunt single. Crespi plated Mach with a groundout for a 9-7 lead. URI was not done on offense, however, taking advantage of an error to lead off the eighth inning to take their first lead of the game. Junior Brock Hewitt had two runners on early in the inning with the error and a walk. After an infield pop-up recorded the first out, the Rams put both runners in scoring position on a hotly-contested, successful double-steal. When Russo dropped a single into right center, both runners came home to tie the game 9-9. A pair of wild pitches sent Russo to third, where Ryan Cunningham plated the go-ahead run with a single to center before Hewitt closed out the inning.

SLU took advantage of a Rams miscue in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 10-10 and had runners on the corners before hard-throwing reliever Brett Palanski came in to shut down the threat. The Billikens went back to the bullpen in the top of the ninth, and Dan Cowsert yielded a double to Zaneski to open the inning. Nestor collected the RBI on a single to left, and Dave Savard added an insurance run with an RBI single to center, but was thrown out trying to advance to second on the throw home. Cowsert got Holcomb to pop-up to Musselman to hold the Rams to a 12-10 lead.

It looked like the back-and-forth affair would continue when Sweeney led off the ninth with a single to left, but Palanski got a double-play ball off the bat of Rodgers and wrapped up the win on called strike three to Musselman.

Palanski improved to 3-3 on the season as he allowed just one hit in 1-1/3 innings of relief. Cowsert fell to 1-2 as he gave up two runs on three hits in an inning of work. Sever struck out four, but gave up five earned runs on 10 hits in 6-1/3 innings. Guyre, Musselman and Mach tied URI's Holcomb and Russo for game-high honors with three hits apiece. Crespi's three RBI were matched by Russo to lead all hitters.

The two teams wrap up their three-game series with a noon game on Sun., May 14, at The Billiken Sports Center. Saint Louis will honor seven seniors in a brief ceremony approximately 15 minutes before the game.