April 9, 2010
Box Score
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis senior first baseman Danny Brock's solo homer in the bottom of the seventh proved to be the difference in a 5-4 Billiken victory against Temple Friday night in Atlantic 10 Conference baseball action at The Billiken Sports Center.
The win improves the Billikens' record to 16-15 overall, 4-3 in the A-10. Temple dips to 3-22, 1-6 in league play. The two teams resume the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. Sunday's series finale is scheduled for noon. Check the bottom of this story for important parking information regarding Sunday's game.
Brock's home run supported another quality outing by senior right-hander Bryant Cotton. Cotton earned his league-leading sixth victory of the season after tossing all nine innings and allowing five hits while striking out six. All Temple runs that crossed the plate were unearned. It is his second complete-game victory of the season.
Saint Louis opened the scoring in the third. Sophomore second baseman Zach Miller led off with a single to left, and advanced to third on freshman shortstop Mike Levine's double down the left-field line. Miller later scored on sophomore left fielder Cody Cotter's sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 Billikens.
Temple pushed across two runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead. Adrian Perez doubled to start the inning, and Ryan Ferguson walked to put two runners on with no one out. Steve Nikorak put down a bunt looking to advance the runners, but Cotton threw wildly to third attempting to get the lead runner, allowing Perez to score. Later, Byron McKoy lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Ferguson and give Temple the 2-1 advantage.
SLU tied it up in the bottom half of the inning despite not recording a hit. Sophomore third baseman Jerry Mancuso walked, and Brock was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced into scoring position on a groundout, and Mancuso would later trot home on a wild pitch to make it a 2-1 ball game after four innings.
The back-and-forth action continued into the top of the fifth, when Temple regained the lead. David Hall reached on an error and stole second. He came around to score on Taylor Juran's RBI single up the middle to put the Owls up 3-2.
But once again, the resilient Billiken offense found a way to score, plating two runs in the fifth despite not registering a hit. Levine, Cotter and Mancuso all walked to load the bases, and Levine scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-3. SLU took the lead when Ben Braaten drove in Cotter with a bases-loaded walk, making it a 4-3 game.
That remained the score until the top of the seventh when Perez tied it up with an RBI single.
With the score knotted 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh, SLU looked to its leading power hitter to provide the late-game heroics. After Temple hurler Ben White got two quick outs, Brock blasted a pitch over the left-field fence for to put the Billikens up 5-4. It was the 12th home run of the season for Brock, and his 50th RBI. He came into the game ranking second in the country in RBIs and 15th in home runs.
Cotton allowed the first batter to reach in both the eighth and ninth innings, but he got out of the innings unscathed to help secure the win for the Billikens.
PARKING NOTE FOR SUNDAY
Due to the Go! St. Louis Marathon on Sunday morning, Forest Park Parkway will be closed to vehicular traffic. As a result, the best way into campus from I-44 and I-64 will be via Grand Ave. Lindell Blvd. will be closed early in the day, but is expected to re-open by 10 a.m. SLU fans are urged to avoid Market Street, Compton Ave. and Vandeventer Ave.
