May 20, 2006

Box Score

DAYTON - Saint Louis dropped its Atlantic 10 regular-season finale 5-2 at Dayton this afternoon at Time Warner Cable Stadium. The Billikens (28-26, 15-12 A-10) stayed with the Flyers (32-22, 18-9 A-10) in hits, but left 12 men on base in the loss. After SLU took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, Dayton bounced back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, then added two more in the seventh to secure the victory. Senior Johnny Sweeney drove in the Bills' first run of the day on his 16th double of the season, the third-most in SLU history in a single season.

The Flyers took the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Back-to-back one-out singles and a walk issued by SLU starter Eric Rohr loaded the bases, and an infield error brought Bobby Getty in from third. Jon Guyre started things for SLU in the top of the third with a one-out single to short, then stole second to move into scoring position for Sweeney's two-out double to left, which tied the game 1-1.

Rohr sat the Flyers in order in the third and fourth innings, while the Billiken left two on in the fourth before surging ahead in the fifth. Guyre led off with a single and moved to third on Ryan Crespi's single through the left side. After UD starter Quinn Haselhorst intentionally walked Greg Rodgers to load the bases, Bill Musselman plated Guyre with a ground ball to third for a 2-1 lead.

After retiring the first two hitters in the bottom of the fifth, Rohr saw Michael Massa and Getty single to start the two-out rally. Galen Schumm roped a double down the right field line to tie the game 2-2, and an error on Bryan Chandler's ground ball to short allowed Getty to score and put the Flyers back on top 3-2.

The Billikens found the tying run at third in the top of the seventh against UD reliever Sean Finn thanks to a hit batter, a walk and a wild pitch. Finn held the lead with a strikeout to end the inning. The Flyers tacked on some insurance in the bottom of the inning against Kurt Struckhoff. A pair of ground balls and a walk loaded the bases, and a wild pitch made it a 4-2 margin. Will Benoit beat a single to third base to bring in the fifth run of the game before Justin Wise took the mound for the Billikens and induced an inning-ending double play.

SLU put runners on in both the eighth and ninth innings, but could not chip away at the UD lead against closer Craig Rohren as he collected his 10th save of the season.

Rohr fell to 4-2 with the loss as he struck out three and allowed two earned runs on six hits in five innings. Haselhort gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings to collect the win and improve to 4-3 on the season. For the Billikens, Sweeney, Guyre and Crespi each posted a pair of hits. UD's top three in the batting order, Massa, Getty and Schumm also recorded two hits apiece.

Both teams advance to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, which begins on Wed., May 27, at Jack Coffey Field at Houlihan Park in Bronx, N.Y.