May 28, 2010
Box Score
CAMDEN, N.J. - Saint Louis will play for its second Atlantic 10 Conference baseball title Saturday following a 12-9 win over No. 2 seed Xavier this afternoon at the A-10 Baseball Championship at Campbell's Field in Camden, N.J.
The Billikens (32-27), who have tied the school record with 32 wins, advance to Saturday's title game at 11 a.m. (St. Louis time) against an opponent to be determined. SLU, which has yet to lose a game in the double-elimination tournament, will have two opportunities to secure its first A-10 title since 2006.
SLU earned a trip to the title game after a wild, back-and-forth game against Xavier (26-31). SLU went up 3-0 early, only to see the Musketeers tie it in the third. Xavier then stretched out to a 7-4 advantage, but SLU scored the next seven runs of the ballgame to secure the win for the Billikens.
Freshman Danny Brock, Cody Cotter and Steve Fernandez had two hits apiece.
The Billikens got on the board in the bottom of the first. Cotter was hit by a pitch, and advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by J.D. Dunn. Brock knocked in Cotter with a single to left to give SLU the early 1-0 lead.
Levine helped the Billikens build on their lead when he singled in Steve Fernandez, who poked a one-out double. Dunn later cracked a two-out base hit to plate Levine and make it 3-0 Billikens.
But Xavier got back into the ballgame with a three-run homer by Bobby Freking in the top of the third. The Musketeers tacked on another run in the top of the fourth to take the lead, but SLU quickly tied it up with a run of its own in the bottom-half of the fourth on a Cotter RBI single to plate Fernandez.
The Musketeers took the lead with three runs in the fifth on another three-run home run, this time off the bat of Ben Thomas.
SLU went into the bottom of the sixth trailing 7-4, and proceeded to score four in the sixth and three in the seventh to gain control of the game.
Mancuso reached after being hit by a pitch, and Levine singled to put two runners on. SLU then did its damage with two outs. Brock drove in Mancuso with a single, and Myers plated Levine with an RBI single. SLU later loaded the bases, and Andrew Guerra was hit by a pitch to tie the score. The Bills pushed across the go-ahead run on a balk, giving them an 8-7 advantage after six.
SLU scored three insurance runs in the seventh which would later prove extremely valuable. Mancuso led off with a solo homer to right to make it 9-7. Levine, who followed Mancuso's homer with a single, later scored on an error to make it 10-7. Myers then plated Levine via a sacrifice fly to put SLU on top 11-7.
The Bills plated another run in the eighth. With two outs, Levine singled in Guerra who reached earlier in the inning after being hit by a pitch.
Xavier rallied in the ninth and scored two to pull within three. With runners at the corners and two outs, freshman Jon Levin came in to get the final out with the potential tying-run at the plate.
Jim Foster earned the win in relief, while Levin picked up his second save of the season. Reliever Andres Wiltz turned in 2-2/3 innings of relief to help hold the Billiken lead.
