March 7, 2007

Box Score

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Saint Louis out-hit Southeast Missouri State, but a lack of timely hitting cost the Billikens (1-10) as they fell 5-2 on Wednesday afternoon in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Bills left 12 runners stranded on the base paths.

After Redhawk starter Phillip Riley (1-1) struck out the first side in the first, Southeast Missouri State's offense went to work in the bottom of the inning. Leadoff batter Nick Harris singled to right field and SLU starting pitcher Eric Brewer (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) walked the ensuing batter to put a pair of runners on. A Matt Wagner single to left field brought in the first run before the Billikens recorded an out. Following a strikeout, Brewer (0-1) loaded the bases with another free pass before surrendering a two-run double to Matt Wulfers, which put SEMO up by three.

Saint Louis put runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings but couldn't capitalize. It finally got on the board in the seventh when Ryan Bennett (Kansas City, Mo./Miami [Ohio]) reached on a one-out infield single. After a pop out, Casey Moore (Lake St. Louis, Mo./Wentzville) singled to the SEMO shortstop to put Bennett in scoring position. Greg Rodgers' (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles CC) RBI single up the middle helped SLU cut the margin to two.

SEMO (7-3) battled back with a run of its own in the bottom of the seventh. Billiken reliever Dan Cowsert (St. Louis, Mo./SWIC) retired the first batter of the frame before allowing a single and a walk. The lead runner moved to third on a fly out and scored on Omar Padilla's single to left field to make it 4-1.

Gilbert Marlowe (Glendale, Mo./SWIC) stretched his hitting streak to six games with a leadoff double for SLU in the top of the eighth. Blake Bratcher (Goodlettsville, Tenn./Volunteer State CC), who had a game-high two hits, added a single to put runners on the corners. SEMO reliever Ivan Nails induced a pop up but then J.D. Dunn (Franklin, Tenn./Centennial) hit a sacrifice fly for SLU's second run of the contest.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Redhawks got one run back as B.J. Rodrigue (Destrehan, La./Brother Martin) gave up a leadoff double to Asif Shah and hit the following batter. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position for a Chad Mercado sacrifice fly for the final run of the game.