May 9, 2008
Box Score
PITTSBURGH - Saint Louis plated six runs in the first and never stopped scoring on its way to a 17-6 Atlantic 10 Conference baseball victory at Duquesne this afternoon. Freshman Ramee Yacoub led the way with four RBIs, while Casey Moore hit a key three-run double. Dave Sever picked up the win with seven innings of work.
With the victory, Saint Louis improves to 23-25 overall and 8-14 in the A-10. Duquesne, which came into today's contest in a three-way tie atop the league standings, dips to 21-25-1 overall and 14-8 in the league.
SLU's Ryan Bennett, who was one of five Billikens to register two or more hits, led off the game with a double. J.D. Dunn walked to put runners on first and second before Andrew Guerra grounded out into a fielder's choice. On the play, Bennett came around to score on a fielding error by the Dukes' second baseman to put SLU up 1-0.
Casey Moore.
Duquesne tallied two runs in the bottom of the third before SLU scored three in the fifth. The Billikens loaded the bases on a Rodgers walk, Pinnell hit-by-pitch and Casey Moore cleared the bases when he connected on a double to put the Billikens ahead 9-2 through four and a half.
However, Duquesne wouldn't go away as Mike Carroll and Pat Kimutis tallied back-to-back home runs to pull within three at 9-6.
The Billikens responded by scoring eight unanswered runs to pull out to the 17-6 win. In the sixth, Guerra posted an RBI groundout and Rodgers poked an RBI single to right.
SLU scored twice more in the seventh when Ziggy Moore lifted a sacrifice fly and Bennett drove in a run with an infield single. The Bills erased any doubt of a Duquesne comeback with four runs in the ninth, punctuated by a two-run single by Yacoub. In addition, Guerra had an RBI double and Pinnell singled in a run in the frame.
Overall, Sever allowed six runs (five earned) on 11 hits in seven innings for his fifth victory of the season. He struck out five batters and walked just one. All but one starter posted at least one hit for SLU, which out-hit the Dukes 15-13.
The two teams play the second game of their three-game series tomorrow at noon (CT) at Duquesne Field.
