March 10, 2009
Box Score
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis baseball was firing on all cylinders Tuesday, parlaying an effective start by right-hander Bryant Cotton with another strong offensive performance in a 13-2 rout over Northern Illinois at The Billiken Sports Center.
The Billikens have now four straight and six of their last seven contests and improve to 8-4 overall. Northern Illinois dips to 4-8 on the year.
Cotton picked up the win on the hill after scattering five hits and allowing just one run in seven innings of work. He struck out four and walked one.
NIU put a run on the board in the first inning after recording four singles, but Cotton settled down quickly. After yielding a base hit to start the second, he sat down 18 in a row to cruise to his second victory of the year.
Meanwhile, the Billiken offense clicked just as it did when they scored 37 runs in three games against Chicago State last weekend. The Bills first cracked the scoreboard in the second when junior right fielder Andrew Guerra lifted a solo home run over the left field fence to knot the score at 1-1. It was Guerra's third homer of the season.
That remained the score until the fifth inning, where SLU plated a pair of runs to take a lead it would not relinquish. Junior left fielder Ryan Bennett's sacrifice bunt. SLU's next batter, junior center fielder J.D. Dunn, then ripped a single and displayed heads-up base running by advancing to second on the throw. With two runners now in scoring position, junior first baseman Danny Brock delivered with a two-run single to make it 3-1 Billikens through five innings.
NIU wouldn't score again until the top of the ninth thanks to solid defense by the Bills. In the first inning, Dunn gunned a runner at the plate to keep it a one-run inning. In the third, Dunn made the defensive play of the game when he robbed NIU's Matt Behren of extra bases by making an over-the-shoulder snag with his back to home plate.
Guerra made a nice running catch at the warning track in right field in the seventh inning to retire the 18th straight Huskie batter. That set the stage for a seven-run bottom of the seventh that broke the game open.
Bennett started the rally when he reached on an error and quickly stole second. Dunn then lined a triple to right field to score Bennett and make it 4-1 Billikens. After a pair of walks loaded the bases, Guerra singled to left center to plate two and make it 6-1 Bills. The Bills again loaded the bases for Jerry Mancuso, who put a ball in play and reached on a fielder's choice to plate another run to make it 7-1.
Then, with runners on second and third, freshman second baseman Zach Miller belted a three-run homer over the left-field fence to put SLU on top 10-1 after seven innings. It was Miller's third homer of the season to tie him with Guerra for team-high honors.
SLU went to the bullpen to start the eighth, and freshman right-hander Garrett Cooper delivered the same result by retiring NIU in order to make it 21 NIU hitters retired in order.
The Billikens then tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman second baseman Lucas Calderon beat out a grounder to the second baseman, and left fielder David Blackwell and pinch hitter Tom Pinnell then drove in a run on a fielder's choice, and Mancuso completed the scoring when he drove in Myers on an RBI double to left.
SLU reliever Andrew Meister yielded a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, but got out of the inning without any further damage to secure the 13-2 win.
The Billikens pounded out 18 hits on the afternoon, including three each from Dunn and Mancuso. Guerra drove in a team-high four runs, while Miller posted three RBIs.
Saint Louis and Northern Illinois continue their two-game series tomorrow with a 3 p.m tilt at The Billiken Sports Center. Junior right-hander Zach Outman is slated to start on the mound for Saint Louis.
