May 14, 2009

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ST. LOUIS - Senior right-hander Dave Sever became Saint Louis' career victories leader Thursday night, tossing 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in a 5-3 Billiken triumph over Rhode Island at The Billiken Sports Center.

Sever (6-4) relieved starter Scott Turmail with two outs and two runners aboard in the seventh inning of a 3-3 deadlock. He fanned pinch hitter Adam Derner to keep the game tied, one of four strikeouts that moved him into a tie for second with John Marcum on the Bills' career strikeouts list (269).

Sever worked out of another jam in the ninth, stranding runners at second and third with a strikeout and a ground ball to first baseman Danny Brock.

The win was the 22nd of Sever's career, giving him outright ownership of the SLU mark he previously shared with Marcum. He allowed two hits and walked one.

Turmail was solid as well, yielding three runs, six hits and two walks while striking out three.

The Billikens reached the 30-win plateau for just the third time in program history, joining the 2006 (32) and 1977 (30) teams. SLU has won seven straight, its longest winning streak since the 2002 squad began the season 7-0.

Ben Braaten belted a two-run home run in the first to put Saint Louis (30-24, 12-12 A-10) on top. Rhode Island (34-18-1, 18-6 A-10) cut the Billiken lead in half in the fourth and took a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

Rhode Island's Luke Demko (1-5) relieved starter Tim Boyce in the bottom of the sixth after a walk to Cody Cotter and a single by Ryan Bennett gave SLU a scoring chance. Demko induced a double play, but Brock delivered a two-out RBI single that plated Cotter with the tying run.

Bennett's seventh-inning sacrifice fly scored Andrew Guerra, who had stroked a leadoff double, to put the Billikens on top for good. In the eighth, Tom Pinnell coaxed a one-out walk and scored on Jerry Mancuso's two-out double for an insurance tally.

The Billikens and Rams play the second game of their three-game set Friday at 3 p.m. at The Billiken Sports Center. Saturday's finale at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., starts at 11 a.m.