May 16, 2008

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis and Temple split an Atlantic 10 Conference baseball doubleheader this afternoon at The Billiken Sports Center. Junior right-hander Dave Sever, who registered a career-high 10 strikeouts.

The Billikens move to 24-28 overall and 9-16 with the split. Temple is now 25-27 and 15-11 in the A-10. More importantly, Temple clinched a spot in next weekend's A-10 Tournament.

Saint Louis scored early and often in the second game to build a lead that Turmail would not relinquish. Tom Pinnell got it started in the bottom of the first when he ripped a bases loaded single to drive in a pair of runs. David Blackwell also registered an RBI single in the inning to put SLU up 3-0 through one.

In the second inning, SLU did its damage with two outs when Ramee Yacoub singled and J.D. Dunn drove him in with a double. The Bills made it 5-0 in the third inning when Casey Moore drove in a run with a two-out single.

Meanwhile, Turmail retired the first 10 batters he faced. He allowed two hits in the fourth, one in the fifth and one in the seventh before running into a bit of trouble in the ninth. It was Stan Orzechowski's two-run homer in that inning that broke up Turmail's shutout bid and pulled the Owls to within three at 5-2. But Turmail would strike out two batters and force a lazy fly ball to left to secure the victory for SLU.

Overall, Turmail allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out four. He did not walk a batter in what was his sixth complete game of the season.

In game two, all of the runs were scored in the first four innings. Temple plated a run in the top of the first to take an early lead, but the Billikens responded with back-to-back home runs for a four-spot in the bottom half of the frame.

Dunn blasted a two-run shot to plate Yacoub, who reached on catcher's interference. The next batter, Greg Rodgers, lifted a solo shot over the right-field wall to put the Billikens up 3-1. With two outs, Mike Beal kept the inning alive with a double. Pinnell then singled home Beal to make it 4-1 SLU through one.

Temple bounced right back and tied the score with three runs in the second, but the Billikens regained the lead when they plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Ziggy Moore scored on a Bennett single, and Rodgers later drove home Bennett with a single through the right side.

But the Billikens would register only four more hits the rest of the way, and Temple would score three runs in the top of the fourth for the eventual 7-6 victory.

Sever allowed just two hits the rest of the way, which included a stretch where he retired seven in a row. In all, he allowed seven runs (six hits) on 11 hits while striking out a career-high 10 hits. He walked just two in the outing.

The two teams conclude their three-game set tomorrow with an 11 a.m. game at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill.