April 25, 2009

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - For the second time in less than a week, Saint Louis (20-26, 11-3 Atlantic 10) rallied from a one-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh to claim a 4-3 win over its league foe. This time the Billikens' victim was Fordham (31-19, 10-6 A-10), which suffered its second straight loss to SLU at The Billiken Sports Center on Saturday afternoon. The victory kept SLU's 10-game winning streak in home conference games, which dates back to last season, intact at 10-0.

Fordham came out and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after Lindsey Kay Bright went all the way to second on a one-out error by the Billikens. Mary Beth Puccio plated Bright with a double to the gap in right center. The Rams loaded the bases when the next two batters reached on back-to-back singles. But SLU starter Kelcie Matesa struck out the next batter before getting out of the jam with a ground out to second.

Saint Louis had a chance to tied things up in the bottom half of the inning after Kristin Nicoletti hit a leadoff doubled over the center fielder's head and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. But the Bills couldn't push her across as Fordham starter Jen Mineau struck out the next batter before getting the following hitter to fly out to center field.

In the second, Keri O'Keefe moved to third on a passed ball before Caitlin Trevillyan's push bunt to the right side allowed O'Keefe to score. Saint Louis went up by one in the fourth after Nicki Jost started the inning with a double to left center. Cejka brought in the go-ahead run with an RBI single up the middle.

The Rams regained the lead in the top of the fifth after Puccio led off the inning with a single to right center. Samantha Pellechio tied things up at 2-2 with an RBI double down the left-field line. Pellechio moved to third on a ground out before reliever Stacy Gillette got the next batter to pop out to the infield for the second out. But the Billikens then committed an error, which allowed Fordham to go up 3-2.

The Bills had the opportunity to tie things up in the bottom of the sixth. Katie Johns was hit by a pitch and then Trevillyan put down a sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Rachel Faletto over to second. Fordham reliever Chelsea Plimpton struck out the next batter before Kerri Dockins singled to right field. Faletto tried to score from second on Dockins' hit but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

SLU scored the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Rachel O'Connell hit a double down the right-field line that dropped between the first and second basemen and the left fielder. Then Rachel Heet knocked an RBI double to the gap in left center and went to third on a Fordham error. With the winning run on third, Jost drove an RBI single into left field to give the Billikens the win.

Gillette (6-12) earned the win after giving up just one hit while fanning one in three frames of relief. Matesa allowed three runs (one earned) on eight hits while striking out two in the first four innings. Eight of SLU's nine hits came from the top five hitters in the order with Cejka, Jost and O'Connell recording two apiece. Heet, Jost, Cejka and Trevillyan each recorded an RBI in the win. With two hits in the Fordham series, Heet moved into second place on SLU's career hits list with 156, while SLU recorded a season-high five doubles on the day.

The Billikens close out their home schedule tomorrow against A-10 foe La Salle at The Billiken Sports Center. The doubleheader begins at noon. Seniors Katie Johns will be honored prior to the first pitch.