 Duquesne Comes to Town for First A-10 Home Series
March 26, 2009
Duquesne at Saint Louis
Following the Action On Deck: Saint Louis will go for its first Atlantic 10 Conference win of the season when Duquesne comes to The Billiken Sports Center for a three-game weekend set. The two squads begin the series Friday at 7 p.m., with game two scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. The series concludes Sunday at noon. About the Billikens: Saint Louis enters the week 12-11 overall after splitting its two mid-week games. On Tuesday, the Billikens trumped 11th-ranked Ole Miss 15-11 in Oxford. Less than 24 hours later, SLU dropped a 12-3 decision to SIU Edwardsville at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett has hit safely in seven straight and leads the team with a .418 average. During his seven-game hitting streak, he has posted a .471 average. Freshman third baseman Zach Miller is third on the squad with a .342 average, leads the team with 23 RBIs and is tied for the team lead with five homers. Junior first baseman Danny Brock is second on the team with a .365 average, while junior catcher Ben Braaten is hitting .348. Freshman Jerry Mancuso totaled five RBIs in SLU's two mid-week games and is hitting .313. Junior outfielder Andrew Guerra is tied with Miller for the team lead with five homers. The Billikens will send senior right-hander Scott Turmail to the mound Friday against the Dukes. He is 2-1 with a 4.26 ERA in five starts this season. Junior right-hander Bryant Cotton, who leads the pitching staff with a 3-1 record and tops all SLU starters with a 2.91 ERA, will toe the rubber in the second game of the series. SLU's game three starter will be either senior right-hander Dave Sever or junior righty Zach Outman. As a team, the Billikens hit .302 and score 7.2 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 5.03 ERA and allows opponents a .310 batting average.
Recapping the Ole Miss Game: The Billikens ran out to a big lead, but the 11th-ranked Rebels rallied to within one run through seven innings before sophomore left fielder Cody Cotter belted a three-run homer in the eighth, allowing the Billikens to post their first win against a ranked opponent since beating Southern Miss in 2005. Freshman Jerry Mancuso led the offense with a career-high four RBIs and also picked up the win on the mound after twirling 3-1/3 innings. Senior second baseman Tom Pinnell posted season highs of three hits and three RBIs in the contest. Cotter, Ryan Bennett and Andrew Guerra also registered multiple hits in the game, which was played before 5,605 at University-Oxford Stadium. Recapping the SIUE Game: Saint Louis took the field at GCS Ballpark less than 12 hours after returning to town following the Ole Miss win and dropped a 12-3 decision to SIU Edwardsville Wednesday. Five different Billikens registered a hit, including junior Danny Brock, who posted a two-run triple in the bottom of the ninth. Scouting the Dukes: Duquesne (3-18, 0-3 A-10) will also be looking for its first win of the A-10 season this weekend after dropping all three games last weekend at Temple. The Dukes, who return 18 letterwinners from last year's club that earned the third seed in the A-10 Championship with a 26-29-1 (16-10 A-10) record, are led offensively by Anthony Manley's .368 average. Rick Devereaux follows with a .308 average and a team-best 14 RBIs. Johnny Elms (0-2, 7.98 ERA), Ryan Juran (1-4, 6.75 ERA) and Gary Pierpont (1-4, 10.00 ERA) all started on the mound last weekend. Jim Devine has not allowed a run in 9-2/3 innings of relief, while Andrew Heck has yielded just one run in four appearances out of the bullpen. As a team, the Dukes hit .241 and score 4.5 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 7.39 ERA and allows opponents a .331 batting average. Duquesne head coach Mike Wilson is in his 16th season at DU and sports a record of 315-471-2. Series History: Saint Louis leads the all-time series 3-2. Last year, the teams split the first two games of a three-game set before having the rubber game canceled due to rain. In 2006, the Bills took two of three games at The BSC. Rank and File: Tuesday's win against Ole Miss was the Billlikens' first against a ranked opponent since beating No. 33 Southern Miss in 2005. Earlier this season, SLU upended then-unranked UC Santa Barbara 8-7. The Gauchos have since gone 13-4 and are currently ranked 19th in the country. Since 2002, the Billikens are 4-29 against ranked opponents. 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 526-214 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. Newcomers Andrew Buckham, Garrett Cooper, Bryant Cotton and Jim Foster have seen starts on the mound this season. 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. Making it Count II: Sophomore left-fielder Cody Cotter picked a good time for his first career home run. It occurred in the top of the eighth at Ole Miss with the Billikens clinging to a one-run lead. The homer, a three-run shot to left-center, helped vault SLU to the 15-11 victory against the 11th-ranked team in the nation. 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 and Zach Miller each have homered five times this season, just one home run off last year's individual season high. As a team, the Billikens have belted 19 home runs on the year. 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 32, 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 231 career Ks, four 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 earlier this year 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: SLU hosts Eastern Illinois next Tuesday, March 31, in a 3 p.m. contest at The BSC before facing Mizzou at Busch Stadium on Wednesday. The Bills host A-10 foe Richmond in a three-game series beginning Friday, April 3, at The BSC. |
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