April 7, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - In the second game of Saturday's twinbill, Saint Louis got timely hitting and pitching in a 5-3 win at La Salle. A four-run sixth inning broke an early 1-1 tie, and sophomore right-hander Dave Sever scattered 12 hits but struck out five and forced the Explorers to leave nine men on base in six innings to collect his second win of the season.

In game two, the Billikens again got on the board quickly on a walk, an error and an RBI single from Casey Moore. The Explorers tied it up in the bottom of the second after John Rickards led off with a double to left. A hit batter and a walk loaded the bases with no outs, but Sever limited the damage with a double play off the bat of Matt Burns, which plated Rickards and left Mike Dertourzos on third. The Billiken hurler retired Brian Meagher on called strike three to end the inning.

La Salle threatened again in the bottom of the third, stringing together three straight two-out singles before Dunn combined with Rodrigue and Casey Moore to throw out Prall moving to third on Davis Hewett's single to right field. Sever wrapped up the fourth and fifth forcing the Explorers to leave a combined three more runners stranded.

The Billikens broke the tie with four runs in the sixth after Casey Moore from third and sending La Salle starter Craig Muschko to the bench for reliever T.J. Chism. Musselman greeted the new pitcher with a ringing double to left center, pushing the lead to 4-1 with runners on second and third with one out. Chism recorded the first of his three strikeouts for the second out of the inning before uncorking a wild pitch that allowed Bratcher to score the inning's fourth run.

The Explorers got two runs back in the bottom of the frame. Dertouzos opened with a double down the left field line, and a Meagher single through the left side followed a walk to load the bases with just one out. Sever fanned Malloy, but saw Handler drop a two-run single into center field to pull La Salle within two runs.

The Billikens went to the bullpen in the seventh, bringing Brock Hewitt in for Sever. The senior got off to a rocky start, issuing a walk to Rickards, but fanned Kevin Jones, got some help from Musselman who threw out Rickards trying to steal second, and closed the inning with a fly ball from Dertouzos. SLU tried to add some insurance in the top of the eighth when Chism walked Rodgers and Bratcher, but Gerard Breslin took the mound and recorded a strikeout and got a ground ball to end the inning.

After Hewitt worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of eighth, SLU brought Rodrigue to the mound from first. The junior right-hander collected his first save of the season with a pair of foul outs and a game-ending strikeout.

The Billikens pick up their first A-10 series win of the season as Sever improved to 2-4 on the year, while Muschko fell to 0-1 with the loss. Rickards' three hits were a game high, while Bratcher was the lone Billiken with multiple hits in game two.

Saint Louis breaks up a five-game road stretch with a home game on Tue., April 10, against Missouri. First pitch at The Billiken Sports Center is set for 7 p.m.