 Billikens Home for Three A-10 Tilts Against Richmond
April 2, 2009
Richmond at Saint Louis
Following the Action
On Deck: Saint Louis resumes Atlantic 10 Conference play this weekend when it welcomes the Richmond Spiders to The Billiken Sports Center for a three-game set. Game one is slated for Friday at 7 p.m., with the middle game of the series scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. The series finale is set for Sunday at noon. Following the Action: KSLU, the campus radio station at Saint Louis University, will offer live audio of this weekend's games at http://kslu.slu.edu. Mitch Michals and Andrew Miller will handle the play-by-play duties, weather permitting. Gametracker will also be available for the three games. About the Billikens: Saint Louis heads into the weekend with a 14-13 overall record and a 2-3 mark in Atlantic 10 Conference play. The Billikens will look extend their two-game A-10 winning streak when Richmond visits. Last weekend, the Billikens swept a doubleheader against Duquesne in a rain-shortened home series against the Dukes. Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett, who is riding a career-best 11-game hitting streak, entered the week second in the Atlantic 10 in hitting. He leads the squad with a .448 average, 43 hits and a .594 slugging percentage. Freshman third baseman Zach Miller, who was named A-10 co-Rookie of the Week on Monday, leads the team with 33 RBIs and has driven in nine runs in the last four games. He is second on the team in hitting (.373) and home runs (five). Junior first baseman Danny Brock is third on the club with a .356 average, while junior catcher Ben Braaten is hitting .341. Junior right fielder Andrew Guerra homered against Duquesne last weekend and leads the club with six round-trippers. The Billikens will send senior right-hander Scott Turmail to the hill Friday against the Spiders. He is 3-1 with a 4.78 ERA on the season. Saturday, SLU will throw junior right-hander Bryant Cotton, who has a 3-2 record and a 3.55 ERA. Sunday's starting pitcher is TBD. As a team, the Billikens hit .301 and score 7.4 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 5.66 ERA and allows opponents a .314 batting average.
Scouting the Spiders: Richmond pulls into St. Louis with a 13-9 overall record and a 3-3 mark in the A-10. The Spiders won a pair of extra-inning home games against UMass to start the A-10 season but dropped two of three last weekend at George Washington. Cameron Brown leads the Spiders in the majority of offensive categories, including average (.372), runs (31), home runs (six) and slugging percentage (.628). Chris Cuppia is second on the club in hitting with a .349 average, while Ryan Mertzroth (.319) and Mike Mergenthaler (.318) pace the squad with 23 RBIs apiece. The Spiders will throw right-hander Stephen Owens (1-0, 1.90 ERA) Friday, left-hander Matt Zielinski (1-0, 8.37) Saturday and right-hander Anthony Cafagna (2-1, 5.51 ERA) Sunday. Last season, UR finished just ahead of SLU in the A-10 standings with a 20-31-2 overall record and a 10-16 mark in league play. As a team, the Spiders hit .287 and average 8.5 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 5.55 ERA and allows opponents a .277 batting average. Head coach Mark McQueen is in his second year at Richmond with a 33-40-2 record. Richmond/Saint Louis Series History: The all-time series between the Spiders and Billikens is tied 3-3. The two teams met last year in Richmond, where the Spiders took two of three. In 2006, SLU took two of three at The BSC. Schedule Notes: Several alterations have been made to the SLU schedule. Next weekend, UMass and the Billikens will play a three-game series beginning Friday, April 10, and concluding on Easter Sunday, April 12. That is a change from the originally scheduled Thursday-Saturday series. In addition, the start time for the Saturday, April 25 game against Charlotte has been pushed up two hours to 11 a.m. Rank and File: SLU's win against Ole Miss on March 24 was the Billikens' 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 posted 15 wins and have been in and out of the national rankings. 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 528-215 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. In the A-10: Heading into the week, the Billikens ranked fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference in team hitting and team pitching. Individually, senior shortstop Ryan Bennett leads the league in hits per game, while junior catcher Ben Braaten leads the league in walks. Senior right-hander Dave Sever is ranked third in the conference in strikeouts. New Look Billikens: Saint Louis has had eight field players and nine 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 garnered three 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 on two occasions, first on March 16 and the second this past week. Power Surge: Andrew Guerra's homer in the first Duquesne game was his team-leading sixth of the season, which already matches last year's individual high by a Billiken. As a team, the Billikens have slugged 23 home runs this year, just six away from last year's team total of 28. Ten Billikens have registered at least one home run 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 39, and earlier this year he became the sixth pitcher in SLU history to record 200 strikeouts in a career. With two strikeouts Wednesday against Mizzou, Sever jumped to fourth on SLU's all-time chart with 238 career Ks. 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 moved 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. In addition, Sever is fifth all time in starts (45) and fourth in innings pitched (314.1). Win Number One: A trio of Billikens registered their first career wins on the mound this season. Jerry Mancuso picked up the win at No. 11 Ole Miss after twirling 3-1/3 innings of relief against the Rebels. 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. 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: Next week, Saint Louis will face SIU Edwardsville in a home-and-home series on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 6-7. UMass then comes to town for a three-game A-10 series beginning Friday, April 10. |
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