 Baseball Continues Road Swing at Temple
May 7, 2009
On Deck: Saint Louis resumes its seven-game road trip this weekend when it travels to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls in a three-game set. The series, which will have implications in determining the six teams for the Atlantic 10 Championship in three weeks, begins Friday, May 8, at 2 p.m. Game two is scheduled for Saturday at noon (CT), while Sunday's finale starts at noon (CT). All games will be played at Temple's Skip Wilson Field. Following the Action: Temple University will offer live video of all three games this weekend. To view all three games of the series, follow the watch links on SLUBillikens.com. The cost to view all three games is $9.95, which gets you a monthly membership to Billiken All-Access. A-10 Race: With six games to go, Saint Louis is still alive for an A-10 Championship berth. The Billikens are 2.5 games out of the sixth spot in the standings, which is occupied by Massachusetts. Six other squads are within 3.5 games of the final conference playoff spot. Temple is a half game up on UMass and sits fifth in the league standings. The A-10 Championship begins May 20 at Fifth Third Field in Dayton, Ohio. About the Billikens: Saint Louis (24-24, 6-11 A-10), which has already matched last year's win total, is coming off a weekend that saw it take two of three from George Washington to keep the Bills in the A-10 race. SLU is 2.5 games out of an A-10 tournament spot with six A-10 games remaining. Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett continues to lead the team in hitting with a .380 average, which includes a team-leading mark of .375 in conference games. Bennett also leads the team in hits (68), doubles (14), sacrifice bunts (five) and stolen bases (15). Freshman third baseman Zach Miller leads the team in home runs (10), RBIs (59) and slugging percentage (.614) while ranking second on the club with a .348 batting average. Junior first baseman Danny Brock, who hit .500 and drove in six runs in four games last week, is hitting .343. Senior second baseman Tom Pinnell is fourth on the squad with a .324 average, while junior catcher Ben Braaten is hitting at a .310 clip with a team-leading 45 walks and .472 on-base percentage. Freshman designated hitter Jerry Mancuso hits .298, while junior right fielder Andrew Guerra is hitting .251 with seven homers. Senior right-hander Scott Turmail (5-4, 4.07 ERA, 11BB, 38K) and junior right-hander Bryant Cotton (5-4, 4.30 ERA, 10BB, 48K) lead the pitching staff with five wins. As a team, the Billikens hit .290 and score 6.8 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 5.66 ERA and allows opponents a .315 batting average.
Scouting the Owls: Temple, which plays Maryland-Eastern Shore Wednesday, enters the week with a 17-26 overall record and an 11-9 mark in league play. Sean Barksdale leads the team with a .376 average to go along with 13 home runs and 47 RBIs. Carmen Del Mastro is hitting .371, while Tony Jusino and Lenny DelGrippo hit .360 and .356, respectively. Jamie Abercrombie hits at a .337 clip, while Kyle Obal hits .331. Mark Ortega and Byron McKoy round out a group of eight Owl batters who hit higher than .300 with averages of .320 and .313, respectively. Ryan Thomas leads the Temple starting rotation with a 4-3 record and a 3.90 ERA. Ben White (3-4, 7.69 ERA) leads the team with 11 starts on the mound. As a team, Temple hits .323 and scores 7.2 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 6.74 ERA and allows opponents a .325 batting average. Temple head coach Rob Valli is in his fourth season at Temple with a 74-133 record, 299-163-1 in nine seasons overall. Temple/Saint Louis Series History: Temple leads the all-time series 4-2. Last year, the Owls took two of three from the Billikens in St. Louis. Temple also took two games of a three-game set in 2007 in Philadelphia. Last Season Versus the Owls: Senior second baseman Tom Pinnell and senior shortstop Ryan Bennett hit .462 and .417, respectively, last season in a three-game home series against Temple. Senior right-handers Scott Turmail and Dave Sever pitched complete games for the Billikens. Turmail picked up the lone win of the series after allowing two runs on just seven hits. Miller Already Ranks Among Top Freshmen: Freshman Zach Miller is climbing the freshman hitting charts. His team-leading 59 RBIs are already the most ever by a SLU freshman, exceeding Adam Gabris' 48 RBIs in 1994. Miller is eight RBIs shy of exceeding Tony Hausladen's school record of 67 RBIs in 1996. Miller also appears on the freshman charts first in total bases (113), second in hits (64), tied for third in home runs (10), third in runs (37), tied for fourth in doubles (11) and tied for second in triples (four). Pinnell Hits for Cycle: On April 8 against SIUE, Tom Pinnell became the first Billiken to hit for the cycle. He tripled in his first at-bat, homered in his second and doubled in his third. After walking in his fourth at-bat, he managed a single in his fifth and final plate appearance to complete the cycle. Zach Miller nearly turned the trick two weeks ago in the first game of the Dayton series but ended up a home run shy of the cycle. Saving Grace: Junior Chaz Salembier's save against UT Martin April 14 was his fifth of the season, which ties the all-time single-season record at SLU. Two other Billikens have registered five saves in a season: Chad Tayon (1994) and Mike Ismail (1981). Movin' On Up: Senior Tom Pinnell leads all active Billikens with 193 career hits, which places him 11th on SLU's all-time hits chart. Jim Bredenkoetter (1999-2002) and Nick Steiner (1998-2001) are the only other players from this decade to post more career hits. In addition, Pinnell is fifth all time with 420 assists. Miller Draws National Attention: Freshman Zach Miller has been tabbed a freshman Mid-Season All-American by the baseball Web site www.pgcrosschecker.com, a division of the popular baseball Web site www.perfectgame.org. Miller leads the team and ranks among the Atlantic 10 Conference leaders in home runs (eight) and RBIs (59). 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 538-226 with stints at Central Missouri, St. Louis Community College-Forest Park and Fontbonne. He is 48-53 in two seasons at SLU. Also in their second seasons are assistant coaches Kevin Moulder and Will Bradley and volunteer assistant Danny Jackson. In the A-10: According to the latest A-10 statistical report, the Billikens are ninth in hitting (.290 team average) and sixth in pitching (5.66 team ERA). Individually, Ryan Bennett is third with 68 hits, 10th with a .387 batting average and tied for eighth with 14 doubles. Zach Miller leads the league in RBIs (59) and is tied for sixth in hits (64) and fourth in total bases (113). Ben Braaten leads the league with 45 walks, while Cody Cotter leads the league in times being hit by a pitch with 18. Dave Sever is eighth among A-10 pitchers with a 3.60 ERA and is third with 64 strikeouts. Scott Turmail is third with 77.1 innings pitched, while Turmail and Bryant Cotton are tied for seventh with five victories. Chaz Salembier is tied for fourth in the A-10 with five saves. Rank and File: SLU's win against then-No. 11 Ole Miss on March 24 was the Billikens' first against a ranked opponent since they beat No. 33 Southern Miss in 2005. SLU has also posted wins against UC Santa Barbara, Eastern Illinois, Illinois and Missouri State, all of which have been ranked at some point this season. 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, Jim Foster, Jerry Mancuso and Marco Mejia 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. Most recently, Dave Sever was tabbed A-10 Pitcher of the Week after shutting out the Richmond Spiders in a key league outing April 4. In addition, Zach Miller collected his second straight A-10 Rookie of the Week nod after driving in 13 runs in five games that same week. Earlier this year, Miller claimed A-10 Rookie of the Week honors 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: Zach Miller leads the team with 10 homers, which already surpasses last year's individual high by a Billiken. The Billikens have slugged 39 round-trippers on the season, the most since the 1999 squad launched 42 dingers. Twelve Billikens have registered at least one home run this season, while eight Bills have belted multiple home runs. 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 64, and earlier this year he became the sixth pitcher in SLU history to record 200 strikeouts in a career. Sever sits at third all time on SLU's career chart with 263 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 is second all time with 20 wins, just one away from tying the school record, and is tied for third all time in starts (48) and third in innings pitched (336). |
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