Feb. 25, 2007

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. - Central Arkansas dealt the Saint Louis baseball team a pair of one-run losses on Sunday afternoon at UCA Field. The Bills out-hit the Cardinals in both games but UCA come through with the game-winning run in the final stanza of each contest. SLU fell 5-4 in game one and lost the nightcap 13-12.

The Billikens (0-6) struck first in the opening inning of game one as J.D. Dunn singled up the middle and moved to second on a wild pitch. Two outs later, Blake Bratcher drove an RBI single up the middle to put SLU up by one. The Bills tacked on another run in the second as B.J. Rodrigue walked to start the frame and Ryan Crespi followed with a single. After Dunn loaded the bases with a one-out walk, Matt Mach brought in Saint Louis' second run on an infield groundout.

Central Arkansas (5-3) cut into the Billiken lead in the bottom half of the inning. Chris Davis hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on a groundout before scoring on Tye Throneberry's infield single. In the bottom of the fourth, the Cardinals' Matt Warren reached on a walk and stole second base to get into scoring position. He was able to scored on a one-out single by Throneberry to knot the score at 2-2.

Consecutive one-out singles by Crespi and Tom Pinnell set up Dunn's run-scoring single to right field to put the Billikens back up by one in the sixth. UCA starter Matt Whitaker was then pulled in favor of Bobby Pritchett, who surrendered an RBI single to Mach to give SLU the 4-2 lead.

The lead was short-lived though as the Cardinals rallied to tie things up in the bottom of the sixth. SLU starter Ryan Bird gave up back-to-back doubles to start the inning to pull UCA to within one. With one out and a runner on third, Throneberry came through with his third hit of the game, an RBI single through the left side, to tie things up once again.

Bird gave way to Mark Zielinski prior to the start of the seventh inning. Scott Cline hit a leadoff triple into right field to get the Cardinal rally started. After getting the ensuing batter to fly out, Justin Wise came in to pitch for the Billikens. He intentionally walked the first batter he faced. Then Warren reached on a fielder's choice as the Bills held the Cardinals at bay by throwing Cline out at the plate. However, a Chris Davis single to centerfield in the next at bat proved to be the game-winning hit as the Bills fell 5-4.

Dunn, Bratcher and Crespi had two hits apiece for the Bills, while Mach drove in half of SLU's runs. Davis and Throneberry each tallied three hits and accounted for all of Central Arkansas' RBI.

Zielinski (0-1) shouldered the loss while giving up just one hit and one run in a third of an inning. Pritchett (3-0) picked up his second straight win over the Bills in relief. He tossed 1.2 innings of two-hit ball and struck out two.

Game two was all about offense as the teams totaled 36 hits combined in the 10-inning affair. UCA jumped out in front in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run homer by Chris Houk.

SLU caught up to the Cardinals in the third. With one out, Dunn doubled to centerfield and eventually moved to third on a wild pitch by UCA starter Jonathan Ashworth. Crespi's double to centerfield brought in Saint Louis' first run and Bratcher added a single up the middle to make it 2-2.

Saint Louis added three more runs in the following inning after playing a little small ball to start the rally. Gilbert Marlowe began the frame with a bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Pinnell drove in the go-ahead run with a double to right field, which knocked Ashworth out of the game. Reliever Jeremy Cloud gave up a RBI double to Ryan Bennett, the first batter he faced. Following a groundout and a Crespi walk, Bratcher's single to left field put the Bills on top by three.

In the sixth, SLU kept the rally going as Greg Rodgers hit a two-out double with runners on second and third to push the score to 7-2. The Bills added three more runs in the seventh on a two-run single by Dunn and Bratcher's RBI single, which made the score 10-2.

The Cardinals got one run back in the bottom of the seventh as Graham Martin reached on a leadoff double to right center. He moved to third on a groundout and came around to score on Pritchett's infield groundout.

SLU got one run apiece in the eighth and ninth innings but Central Arkansas made its move in with five runs in the eighth on three hits and a Billiken error. It evened things up in the ninth with four runs on four hits and a second SLU error to force a 10th frame.

The Bills went down in order in the top of the 10th, while UCA earned the win on Martin's two-out RBI double to right center. Zielinski (0-2) was saddled with his second loss of the day. He struck out two and allowed just one hit in his inning of work. Josh Charette was credited with his first win of the season. He scattered three hits and struck out two in three innings.

Casey Moore led the offensive charge for the Bills with four hits. Marlowe, Pinnell and Bratcher each had three hits, while Bratcher drove in a team-high three runs. UCA's Graham Martin led all players with a five-for-six effort in game two, while Zack Dickson went three-for-three with a game-high five RBI.

Saint Louis returns to action on Fri., March 2 against New Mexico in the Domino's Pizza Aggie Classic hosted by Texas A&M. Game time is set for 12:30 p.m.