May 11, 2007

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - A shaky start overshadowed a strong finish as Saint Louis fell 5-1 at Massachusetts in Atlantic 10 baseball action this afternoon at Earl Lorden Field. The Minutemen plated four runs in the bottom of the first inning before Billiken starter Dave Sever settled in to limit them to just five hits over the remaining seven innings. Unfortunately, the deficit was too much for the SLU offense to overcome as Blake Bratcher's home run provided the lone run of the day.

Sever gave up a leadoff single to Lou Proietti in the bottom of the first, and Ryan Franczek's ground ball moved him to second, from which he scored on Adam Tempesta's single to right center. Another single from Bryan Adamski put Tempesta in scoring position at second for Bill Rankin's RBI single to center. As Rankin looked to swipe second, Bill Musselman's throw got away from Tom Pinnell, which allowed both Adamski and Rankin to score for a quick 4-0 lead for the Minutemen.

SLU tried to answer in the top of the second as both Bratcher and Greg Rodgers worked walks from Lloyd, but a ground ball and lineout and a pickoff eliminated the threat. Sever worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the frame, mimicking Lloyd's pickoff throw to close out the inning.

As Sever continued to roll through the lineup, Minutemen tacked on another unearned run in the bottom of the fifth as Proiette dumped a one-out single into right field, stole second, reached third on an error and scored on Franczek's sacrifice bunt.

Bratcher broke up the shutout with his team-leading third home run of the season in the top of the seventh. The Billikens tried to make a little more noise in the top of the eighth as J.D. Dunn drove a double to left. Lloyd worked out the jam with a pair of ground ball outs. With Adamski on the mound in the ninth, Bratcher tacked on a double, driving his second extra-base hit of the game into right center with two outs. Adamski left him stranded, however, with a final ground ball out.

Sever threw his first complete game of the season, striking out six and not allowing an extra-base hit, but took the loss to fall to 4-7 on the season. Lloyd improved to 5-3 with the win as he allowed just one run on seven hits.

The teams square off again on Sat., May 12, at 11 a.m.