 Billikens Open A-10 Play at Xavier
March 19, 2009
On Deck: Armed with a league-high tying 11 wins, the Saint Louis baseball squad opens Atlantic 10 Conference play this weekend against Xavier in Cincinnati. The Billikens and Musketeers begin the three-game series Friday at 2 p.m. (CT). Game two is slated for Saturday at noon (CT), with the series finale set for Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT). About the Billikens: Saint Louis is 11-7 on the season and is tied with Charlotte in wins heading into the A-10 opener. The Billikens wrapped up their recent 10-game home stand with a 7-3 record. Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett leads the team with a .418 average and is second on the squad with 23 hits despite missing five games due to injury. Freshman third baseman Zach Miller, the reigning A-10 Player of the Week, hits .316, leads the team with 18 RBIs and is second with four homers. Junior first baseman Danny Brock (.397), junior catcher Ben Braaten (.339), freshman third baseman Jerry Mancuso (.328) and junior center fielder J.D. Dunn (.309) also hit above the .300 mark for SLU. Junior outfielder Andrew Guerra has slugged a team-best five home runs. Senior right-hander Scott Turmail, who will start the first game against Xavier, has a 2-1 record and a 4.38 ERA. Saturday's starter, junior right-hander Bryant Cotton, has allowed just two earned runs in his last 24 innings. Senior right-hander Dave Sever (2-2, 4.12) will pitch the series finale against the Musketeers. As a team, the Billikens hit .308 and score 7.2 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 4.22 ERA and allows opponents a .287 batting average.
Recapping the North Dakota Series: Saint Louis split a two-game series with the Fighting Sioux, winning the opener 13-6 but falling 13-9 in the final game. In SLU's win Tuesday, Ryan Bennett went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Ben Braaten, Jerry Mancuso and Andrew Guerra all had two RBIs for SLU. Junior right-hander Zach Outman picked up the win on the mound after striking out eight UND batters in just five innings. The Fighting Sioux (4-10) bounced back on Wednesday to post a wild victory. The Bills rallied from an early six-run deficit to briefly take a two-run lead, but UND exploded for seven runs in the top of the eighth for the victory. Bennett was the team's leading hitter after going 6-for-10 in the series, while Guerra delivered a team-high five RBIs in the two games, including a three-run home run in the second game. Scouting the Musketeers: Xavier, last season's runner-up at the A-10 Championship, enters the weekend with a 7-6 record. Last year, the Musketeers finished 27-31 overall and tied Charlotte for first place with a 19-8 mark in league play. Zach Richard leads the squad with a .355 average, while Matt Kleifges hits .333. Sean Farrell is hitting .275 and leads the team with eight RBIs. Probable pitching starters for Xavier are Danny Rosenbaum (2-1, 1.27 ERA), Nathan Mutsch (2-0, 1.80 ERA) and Josh Deeg (1-0, 3.00 ERA). As a team, the Musketeers hit .251 and score 5.7 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 4.11 ERA and allows opponents a .269 batting average. Series History: Xavier owns a 9-4 series advantage against the Billikens. The two squads last met in 2007, with the Musketeers sweeping a three-game series at The Billiken Sports Center. SLU Skipper: Saint Louis head coach Darin Hendrickson is in his second season as the Billikens' skipper. Last year, he led SLU to 24 victories, the most by a first-year head coach in program history. In addition, the Billikens had two players - Casey Moore and Dave Sever - selected in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft, marking the first time since 1997 that two Billikens were drafted in the same year. Hendrickson, who picked up his 500th career victory last season in a home win against Fordham, has a 14-year career record of 525-210 with stints at Central Missouri, St. Louis Community College-Forest Park and Fontbonne. Also in their second seasons are assistant coaches Kevin Moulder and Will Bradley and volunteer assistant Danny Jackson. New Look Billikens: Saint Louis has had eight field players and eight pitchers make their debuts in a Billiken uniform this season. Four of the Bills' top five hitters are newcomers. Sophomore left-hander Andrew Buckham, junior right-hander Bryant Cotton and freshman lefty Jim Foster all have seen starts on the mound this season. In the A-10: Heading into the week, Saint Louis ranked second in the league in team pitching. The staff featured a 3.99 ERA and 117 strikeouts to rank second. Offensively, the Billikens were fifth in team batting with a .303 average. Zach Miller was the top freshman hitter with a .396 average, ranking eighth overall in the conference. Freshman Jerry Mancuso tied for league-high honors with seven doubles. Bryant Cotton has pitched a league-leading 5.93 innings per game, while Chaz Salembier is second in the league in saves. Dave Sever is second in the A-10 with 9.75 Ks per outing. Making it Count: A pair of Billikens posted home runs for their first career hits. Freshman Zach Miller homered in his first collegiate at-bat in the season opener at CSU Bakersfield, while Lucas Calderon hit a two-run shot against Indiana State Feb. 24 for his first hit. Weekly Accolades: The Billikens have had two players pick up A-10 weekly honors so far this season. Chaz Salembier was named A-10 Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 23 after picking up a win and a save against CSU Bakersfield and UC Santa Barbara, respectively, on opening weekend. Zach Miller was tabbed A-10 Rookie of the Week after hitting .485 and driving in 14 runs from March 2 to March 15. Power Surge: Andrew Guerra leads the team with five home runs, which is just one off of last year's team-high total. As a team, the Billikens have belted 17 home runs this season. Climbing the Charts: Senior right-hander Dave Sever is moving up the career strikeout chart in the Billiken record book. He leads the team in Ks this season with 26, and earlier this year he became the sixth pitcher in SLU history to record 200 strikeouts in a career. Sever sits in sixth place on SLU's all-time chart with 225 career Ks, 10 shy of fifth place. The program's all-time leader in strikeouts is Ryan Bird (2004-07), a current member of the St. Louis Cardinals organization who fanned 286 batters in his SLU career. Sever picked up his 18th career win against Chicago State, which moves him into second place on SLU's all-time list. He is three wins shy of tying John Marcum's (1964-66) school record of 21. Win Number One: A pair of Billikens registered their first career wins on the mound this season. Jim Foster pitched six innings to pick up the win in the final Chicago State game in his first career start. Bryant Cotton, who picked up the Bills' lone victory in the Murray State series, also got the win against Eastern Illinois earlier this season. Billikens at Busch: Saint Louis will face the Missouri Tigers at Busch Stadium on April 1. Game time is slated for 7:15 p.m. General admission tickets are $10 and are available at www.stlcardinals.com. The BSC Gets a Facelift: The home of the Billikens underwent renovations in the off-season. The Billiken Sports Center now features a brick backstop and bricked-in dugouts. The infield was laser-graded and re-surfaced, and new padding was added to the outfield wall. Down the Road: The Billikens head to nationally ranked Ole Miss Tuesday, March 24, to face the Rebels in a 6:30 p.m. contest. Then, SLU meets SIU Edwardsville on Wednesday, March 25, at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., at 3 p.m. |
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