May 17, 2007

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Senior centerfielder Ryan Crespi dropped the game-winning, ninth-inning single into deep left field as Saint Louis rallied past Dayton 3-2 tonight at The Billiken Sports Center. The Billikens trailed 2-1 in their final at-bat when a leadoff walk, a B.J. Rodrigue single and a wild pitch knotted things up at 2-2. The Flyers intentionally walked the bases full with one out for the hot-hitting Crespi, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games with the RBI single.

SLU starter Dave Sever was solid despite a first-inning home run from Scott Dunwoody that put the Billikens in a 1-0 hole in the first inning. After SLU left a pair of runners stranded in the bottom of the second, the Flyers made it a 2-0 lead in the top of the third on back-to-back doubles and an RBI ground out by Dunwoody.

In the bottom of the frame, Ziggy Moore took advantage of a throwing error to lead off the inning and moved to third on Tom Pinnell's double, which narrowly escaped the grasp of UD's Frank Tedesco as he raced to the right field line. Casey Moore cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly deep enough to plate brother Ziggy from third.

From that point, both pitchers settled into a rhythm that neither team's hitters could find. The Billikens had two runners on in the bottom of the sixth, but UD starter Chris Rubio worked out of the jam with a pop foul. Sever created some two-out difficulty for himself in the top of the eighth when a Michael Massa single and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for clean-up hitter Jeff Mercer. The sophomore hurler got some help from first baseman Ryan Johnson who cleanly played a well-hit ball to leave the bases loaded.

Senior Ziggy Moore to again set up a forced out at every base. Instead, it set the stage for Crespi's heroics as he sent a shot over the head of Bobby Getty in left field for the victory.

Hewitt picked up his second win in as many relief appearances, needing just 11 pitches to finish off the Flyers in the top of the ninth. Despite not figuring into the decision, Sever has a solid outing as he struck out six and allowed just five hits over eight innings of work. Rubio took the loss to fall to 6-7 on the season as he yielded two earned runs on six hits and four walks in 8-1/3 innings. Rodrigue was the steady hitter for the Billikens, delivering three of SLU's seven hits on the night.

The Billikens and Flyers face off again on Fri., May 18, at The Billiken Sports Center. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. The teams close out the 2007 season on Sat., May 19, at 1 p.m. SLU will honor its 13 seniors prior to that game at approximately 12:40 p.m.