May 8, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - Saint Louis' Danny Brock went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored as the Billikens bounced La Salle 10-8 Saturday at Hank DeVincent Field.
The Billikens (24-23, 11-9 A-10) and Explorers (16-27, 10-10 A-10) will play the rubber match of their three-game series tomorrow. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m.
Alex Alemann picked up the win after allowing seven runs in 6-2/3 innings. Relievers Andres Wiltz and Jon Levin finished it off, with Levin earning the first save of his career by getting the final out with the potential tying run on second and the winning run at the plate.
Brock's two RBIs moves him to 63 for the season, just four shy of matching the SLU single-season record held by Tony Hausladen (1996). Ben Braaten posted two hits. Cody Cotter scored a game-high three runs.
The Billikens got the scoring started after recording three straight hits to start the game. Cotter had a leadoff single, and J.D. Dunn followed with a single of his own. Brock smashed a ground-rule double, his first of two doubles in the contest, to plate Cotter and put the Billikens on top 1-0 early.
La Salle answered with a run in the bottom-half of the first, but SLU quickly regained the lead after pushing across two runs in the top of the second. Mike Levine started the rally with a two-out single to center, then stole second. Cotter and Dunn both walked to load the bases. Brock was then hit by a pitch to score Levine to put the Billikens ahead 2-1. Cotter later ended up scoring on a wild pitch, making it 3-1 Bills.
La Salle scored in the bottom of the third to make it 3-2 before SLU opened the floodgates with a six-run fifth to give the Bills a lead it would not relinquish. Ben Braaten started the scoring in the fifth with a double to left center. Jerry Mancuso and Levine would later walk to load the bases, and the Bills would go on to score all six runs in the frame with two outs. Cotter walked to plate a run, and Mancuso scored on a passed ball. Dunn would reach on an error to score two more to make it a 7-2 ballgame. Myers completed the scoring with a two-run single, stretching the Billiken lead to 9-2.
La Salle chipped away at its deficit by scoring in each of its next three innings, including the seventh when Jeff Flax cracked a three-run home run to make it 9-7.
The Billikens received a key insurance run in the eighth. Brock led off with a double, and ended up scoring on a Braaten base knock to make it 10-7.
After getting the final out in the seventh, Wiltz retired the Explorers in order in the eighth. He ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the ninth after allowing a run to make it 10-8. The Explorers had runners on second and third and the potential winning run at the plate, but Levin came in and struck out the only two batters he faced to secure the win for the Billikens.
