 Home-and-Home With SIUE Up Next for Billikens
April 7, 2009
On Deck: Saint Louis and SIU Edwardsville continue their four-game season series with a pair of tilts this week. The two teams will meet at SimmonsCooper Complex on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Game two of the home-and-home series will take place Wednesday at The Billiken Sports Center in another 6 p.m. first pitch. About the Billikens: Saint Louis has won three straight games and sits at 17-13 overall, 5-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Last weekend, the Billikens swept the Richmond Spiders in a three-game series at home behind quality starting pitching from Scott Turmail, Bryant Cotton and Dave Sever. Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett, who is riding a career-best 14-game hitting streak, leads the Atlantic 10 Conference with 47 hits. He also leads the squad with a .439 average. Freshman third baseman Zach Miller, the back-to-back A-10 Rookie of the Week, leads the team and the league with 40 RBIs and has driven in 12 runs in the last seven games. He is second on the team in hitting (.368), leads the club in slugging percentage (.605) and is tied for the team lead in home runs (six). Junior first baseman Danny Brock is third on the team with a .342 average, while senior Tom Pinnell has been hot recently and is fourth with a .315 average. Junior catcher Ben Braaten is hitting .309, while a fellow newcomer, freshman designated hitter Jerry Mancuso, hits .306. Junior right fielder Andrew Guerra is tied with Miller for team-high honors in homers with six. The Billikens will send junior right-hander Zach Outman to the hill Tuesday at SIUE. He is 2-3 with a 6.00 ERA on the season and is third on the squad with 32 strikeouts. Wednesday's starting pitcher is still to be determined. As a team, the Billikens hit .302 and score 7.5 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 5.11 ERA and allows opponents a .308 batting average.
Scouting the Cougars: SIUE enters its home opener Tuesday with a 5-18 record. One of those wins was a 12-3 decision against Saint Louis March 24 at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. Josh Street leads the team with a .404 average, nine home runs and 36 RBIs. In the Cougars' win against SLU earlier this year, Street went 3-for-5 with a game-high three RBIs. Adam Eggemeyer is second on the team with a .389 average. Michael Hopkins, who is hitting .313 on the season, was 4-for-5 versus the Billikens earlier this year at GCS Ballpark. Right-hander Spencer Patton, who stymied the Billikens for seven innings earlier this year against SLU, will start Tuesday's game. The Cougars will send Mitchell Fairley (1-1, 6.91) to the hill Wednesday. As a team, the Cougars hit .295 and average 7.0 runs per contest. The pitching staff has an 8.13 ERA and allows opponents a .295 batting average. Long-time head coach Gary Collins has a 31-year record of 949-655-7. SIUE/Saint Louis Series History: The Cougars hold a 36-17 series advantage over the Billikens. After their two game this week, the teams will meet again on May 13 at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. Recapping the Richmond Series: Saint Louis earned its first-ever A-10 home sweep last weekend against Richmond. In the first game, the Billikens received a gem from senior right-hander Scott Turmail, and Zach Miller drove in four runs in a 13-6 victory. Games two and three were played as a doubleheader on Saturday, and the Billikens came away with two wins to complete the series sweep. The Bills cruised to an 8-1 victory in the first game of the doubleheader behind the pitching of Bryant Cotton, and Dave Sever threw the first shutout of the season for the Bills in the nightcap for a 4-0 Billiken win. Schedule Notes: Several alterations have been made recently 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. Start Me Up: The Billikens' starting rotation enjoyed paramount success last weekend against Richmond. Scott Turmail, Bryant Cotton and Dave Sever combined to throw 25 innings and yield a 0.36 ERA. The trio struck out 23 Spider hitters and yielded a .247 batting average. Turmail got things off on the right track by tossing eight innings and allowing one earned run on 10 hits. In the second game, Cotton established a career high with nine strikeouts in eight innings of one-run ball. In the series finale, Sever completed his first complete-game shutout, striking out a career-best 11 and allowing just six hits. 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 531-215 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: The Billikens are fourth in hitting (.302 team average) and fifth in pitching (5.11 team ERA) according to the latest Atlantic 10 statistical report. Individually, Ryan Bennett leads the league with 47 hits, is tied for the league lead with 12 doubles and is second with a .439 batting average. Zach Miller leads the league in RBIs (40) and total bases (69). Ben Braaten leads all A-10 players with 28 walks, while Jerry Mancuso and Cody Cotter are tied for second after being hit 11 times. Dave Sever is second among A-10 pitchers in strikeouts (50) and third in innings pitched (47.1). Sever and Bryant Cotton are tied with five others with four wins. 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 six 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 a league-high five A-10 weekly honors so far this season. This past week, Dave Sever was tabbed A-10 Pitcher of the Week after shutting out the Richmond Spiders in a key league victory. In addition, Zach Miller collected his second straight A-10 Rookie of the Week nod after driving in 13 runs in five games. Earlier this year, Miller claimed A-10 Rookie of the Week honors on March 16, and junior right-hander Chaz Salembier picked up A-10 Pitcher of the Week plaudits the opening week of the season after registering a win and a save against CSU Bakersfield and UC Santa Barbara, respectively. Power Surge: Andrew Guerra and Zach Miller lead the team with six homers apiece, which already matches last year's individual high by a Billiken. As a team, the Billikens have slugged 24 home runs this year, just four 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 50, and earlier this year he became the sixth pitcher in SLU history to record 200 strikeouts in a career. With his career-high 11 strikeouts last Saturday against Richmond, Sever jumped to fourth on SLU's all-time chart with 249 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 also picked up his 19th career win against Richmond, which is second all time at SLU. He is two wins shy of tying John Marcum's (1964-66) school record of 21. In addition, Sever is tied for fourth all time in starts (46) and innings pitched (323.1). Win Number One: A trio of Billikens have 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 notch the win in the final Chicago State game in his first career start. Bryant Cotton is tied for the team lead with four victories 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: This weekend, Saint Louis welcomes UMass (7-16, 2-7 A-10) for a three-game set at The BSC. Action gets underway Friday, April 10, at 7 p.m., with game two slated for Saturday at 1 p.m. The series finale is set for Easter Sunday at noon. |
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