May 27, 2006

Final Stats

BRONX, N.Y. - A shaky start for both teams St. Bonaventure claim a 3-2 victory over Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, forcing a championship deciding game on Sun., May 27, at 11 a.m. (CT). After the Bonnies advanced out of the loser's bracket, the Billikens suffered their first loss of the double-elimination tournament. Falling behind 3-2 through two innings, the Billikens (31-27) continued to hit the ball throughout the game, putting runners on in every inning except the ninth, but St. Bonaventure starter Matt Agostinelli managed to work out of the jam each time.

The championship round had an inauspicious beginning for the Billikens as the Bonnies pushed three runs across in the first inning on two walks, two errors and two hits. With one out, junior Brock Hewitt walked Josh Perkins. The Bonnies' shortstop stole second and took third when the Billiken middle infielders failed to corral Bill Musselman's throw. Hewitt got Brian Pelligrini to pop up for the second out, but walked Joe Rizzo to put runners on the corners. Matt Mardeusz sent a ground ball down the first base line that bounced off the bag, forcing Tim Landy to scramble to collect it. His flip tipped off the glove of Hewitt, allowing both runners to score. T. J. Pennino was hit by a pitch, and a Brandon Salerno single through the right side loaded the bases. With Tristan Mulcahy, at the plate, the Bonnies sent all three runners, and Mulcahy swung through the pitch with enough distraction to allow Marduesz to slide beneath the tag of Musselman for a 3-0 lead.

The Billikens looked to answer in the bottom of the inning with Jon Guyre drawing a leadoff walk and Ryan Crespi slapping a single through the left side. Johnny Sweeney sacrificed them over to second and third, but Agostinelli closed out the inning with a pop foul and a ground out.

The Bonnies threatened again in the bottom of the second as Hewitt continued to have trouble finding the strike zone. Kieran Malone walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on Randy Moley's single to left. A sacrifice moved both runners up for Pelligrini. B.J. Rodrigue collected the A-10 Player of the Year's weak ground ball to third and threw out Malone racing for home. Another walk loaded the bases, and Hewitt fell behind Mardeusz as well. The SBU third baseman sent a shot down the third base line that Rodrigue reached to snag and stepped on third to keep the Bonnies off the board.

SLU pulled within 3-2 in the bottom of the second. Gilbert Marlowe was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and Landy's single through the left side moved him to second. Rodrigue drew a walk to load the bases for Ziggy Moore, whose ground ball to short plated Marlowe and left runners on the corners with two outs. Agostinelli recorded his first strikeout of the game for the second out but then uncorked a wild pitch to allow Landy to score, cutting the lead to 3-2.

After three uneventful innings for both teams, the Billikens had a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth with one out after Sweeney singled to left field and stole second. Rodgers sent a shot to right center, but the wind held it up for Pennino. Then, Musselman had a shot ticketed for the gap in left center before Rizzo made a diving grab just off the turf to keep his team in front 3-2. SLU again had a chance to tie things up in the bottom of the sixth. Marlowe was hit by a pitch to lead of an inning for the second time. Landy sacrificed him to second, and he moved to third Moore's two-out infield single. Agostinelli forced SLU to leave both runners stranded with a ground out from Guyre.

SLU looked for another two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh when Rodgers and Musselman put up back-to-back singles to left and center, respectively., and both moved up a base on a wild pitch. Marlowe sent a 2-1 pitch deep down the right field line, but the shot curled just foul. For the third-straight inning, Agostinelli got out of the jam.

Hewitt took the loss, falling to 3-6, as he yielded three runs, just one earned, on seven hits and five walks while striking out three. After the difficult start, the junior right-hander allowed just four hits over his final six innings. Agostinelli improved to 4-0 on the year, giving up two runs on eight hits in eight innings on the mound. Salerno led all hitters with three hits, while Moore and Musselman paced the Billikens with a pair of singles each. Moore picked up SLU's only RBI of the game.