 Billikens Conclude Regular Season With Five Games This Week
May 11, 2009
On Deck: Saint Louis enters its final week of the regular season with five games in five days, culminating with an important three-game series against Atlantic 10 Conference foe Rhode Island beginning Thursday, May 14. Before getting a crack at the second-place Rams, SLU hosts Southern Illinois Carbondale Tuesday in a 7 p.m. first pitch at The Billiken Sports Center. The Billikens then travel to GCS Ballpark to take on SIU Edwardsville Wednesday in a 7 p.m. start. About the Billikens: Saint Louis (27-24, 11-12 A-10) has won five of its last six conference games and enters the final weekend of league play 1.5 games out of the final A-10 playoff spot. The Bills are tied with Temple for seventh in the league, and both will be chasing down Fordham and UMass, which each have 13-11 records. One of the many scenarios for the Billikens to qualify for the six-team league tournament involves SLU sweeping URI, Duquesne beating UMass and Temple defeating Fordham. If SLU and Temple sweep their opponents, the Billikens will hold the tiebreaker by virtue of last weekend's series sweep. Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett continues to lead the team in hitting with a .392 average. He also leads the team in hits (76), doubles (16), sacrifice bunts (five) and stolen bases (19). Freshman third baseman Zach Miller leads the team in home runs (10), RBIs (60) and slugging percentage (.585) while ranking fourth on the club with a .340 batting average. Junior catcher Ben Braaten accumulated nine hits and a team-best eight RBIs in the Temple series to raise his average to .346, which ranks second on the team. Junior first baseman Danny Brock hits .342, while senior second baseman Tom Pinnell hits .329. Senior right-hander Dave Sever (5-4, 3.73 ERA), senior right-hander Scott Turmail (5-4, 4.34 ERA) and junior right-hander Bryant Cotton (5-4, 4.64 ERA) lead the pitching staff in wins. As a team, the Billikens hit .293 and score 7.1 runs per contest. The pitching staff has a 5.74 ERA and allows opponents a .316 batting average.
Scouting the Salukis: Southern Illinois enters Tuesday's matchup with a 20-25 overall record and an 8-9 conference mark. SIU has not played since May 3, as its Missouri Valley Conference series against Wichita State in Carbondale was canceled due to damage to its field caused by inclement weather. Chris Derritella leads the Salukis with a .333 average, while Mark Kelly hits .324 with a team-leading 13 doubles and 32 RBIs. Aaron Roberts hits at a .320 clip, while Tyler Bullock hits .298 with a team-best eight home runs. As a team, Southern Illinois hits .284 and scores 5.4 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 4.71 ERA and allows opponents a .284 batting average. SIU head coach Dan Callahan is in his 15th season at SIU with a 410-415-1 record, 563-573-1 in 21 seasons overall. Southern Illinois/Saint Louis Series History: Southern Illinois owns a 55-13 record against the Billikens in a series that dates back to 1951. SIU has won eight games in a row versus Saint Louis, with the Billikens' last win against the Salukis coming in 2002. Scouting the Cougars: SIU Edwardsville is on a season-long four-game winning streak and pulls into Wednesday's matchup with a 14-32 record. The Cougars, who are transitioning to the NCAA Division I level and will compete in the Ohio Valley Conference next season, swept future conference foe Morehead State last weekend. Josh Street leads SIUE's everyday players with a .375 average, 12 home runs and 50 RBIs. Mike Hurt is hitting .317, while Michael Hopkins posts a .302 batting average. Spencer Patton leads the pitching staff with a 4.65 ERA and a team-high-tying four wins, two of which came against the Billikens earlier this season. As a team, the Cougars hit .286 and score 5.8 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 6.65 ERA and allows opponents a .321 batting average. SIUE head coach Gary Collins is 958-669-7 in 31 seasons in Edwardsville. SIUE/Saint Louis Series History: SIUE leads the all-time series 37-18, including a 2-1 mark in games played earlier this season. The two squads met March 25 at GCS Ballpark, with the Cougars coming away with a 12-3 victory. SIUE then topped the Billikens 14-1 in Edwardsville April 7 before Saint Louis picked up a 9-5 win the following day at The Billiken Sports Center. Scouting the Rams: Rhode Island, which hosts Northeastern Tuesday before traveling to St. Louis, enters the week with a 33-17-1 overall record and an 18-5 conference mark. Rhody has assured itself of a top-two seed in the A-10 tournament and is one game back of Dayton for first place in the standings. Dan Rhault leads the Rams with a .393 average, 11 home runs and 56 RBIs. Oliver Palmer hits at a .342 clip, while Mike LeBel and Jeff Cammans have posted averages of .333 and .331. Eric Smith and Nick Greenwood headline a strong starting rotation with ERAs of 3.38 and 4.13, respectively. As a team, the Rams hit .305 and score 6.6 runs per game. The pitching staff has a 4.76 ERA and allows opponents a .272 batting average. URI head coach Jim Foster is 121-90-2 in four years in Kingston. URI/Saint Louis Series History: Rhody holds a 6-2 series advantage against the Billikens. Last year, the Rams swept SLU in Rhode Island by winning three closely contested games. The last SLU win against the Rams occurred in the 2006 A-10 Championship, when the Billikens posted a 3-2 victory in a second-round contest. Last Time Out: Saint Louis swept Temple in a three-game series at Skip Wilson Field. The Billikens stretched out to an early lead and withstood two Temple rallies to post a 12-11 victory in game one. A ninth-inning rally in game two produced an 11-7 Billiken win, and SLU completed the sweep with a 12-3 victory in the series finale. Ben Braaten had a huge series, going 9-for-11 (.818 average) with a team-leading eight RBIs and two home runs. Bennett Climbing the Record Book: Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett is enjoying one of the most productive offensive seasons in SLU history. His 76 hits are tied for sixth in SLU history, and he is five hits shy of tying Mike Barger's school record of 81. In addition, Bennett's .390 batting this season and .356 career batting mark put him on track to finish his career ranked among SLU's all-time top 10 in both categories. Miller Already Ranks Among Top Freshmen: Freshman third baseman Zach Miller is climbing the freshman hitting charts. His team-leading 60 RBIs are the most ever by a SLU freshman, exceeding Adam Gabris' 48 RBIs in 1994. Miller is eight RBIs shy of breaking Tony Hausladen's school record of 67 RBIs in 1996. Miller also appears on the freshman charts first in total bases (117), second in hits (68), tied for third in home runs (10), tied for second in runs (39), tied for fourth in doubles (11) and tied for second in triples (four). Movin' On Up: 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 66, and earlier this year he became the sixth pitcher in SLU history to record 200 strikeouts in a career. Sever is third all time on SLU's career chart with 265 Ks, four away from John Marcum's second-place total of 269. 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's win last Friday at Temple was the 21st of his career, a school record he shares with Marcum. Sever is also tied for third all time in starts (48) and third in innings pitched (338.2). Pinnell Nearing Milestone: Senior second baseman Tom Pinnell needs two more hits to join the exclusive 200-hit club at SLU. Just nine players in SLU history have achieved 200 or more hits. The last player to accomplish the feat was Jim Bredenkoetter, who accumulated 200 hits from 1999-2002. Pinnell, who is also looking to extend a career-long 14-game hitting streak, leads all active Billikens with 198 hits to rank 11th all time. Saving Grace: Junior right-hander Chaz Salembier leads the team with five saves, 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). 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 (10) and RBIs (60). Bennett Honored for Work on Field, in the Classroom: Senior shortstop Ryan Bennett was one of 37 NCAA Division I baseball players named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List. The Wallace Award honors the nation's top shortstop. In addition, Bennett was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII baseball squad by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Bennett advances to the Academic All-America ballot, with voting to be conducted later this month. 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 541-226 with stints at Central Missouri, St. Louis Community College-Forest Park and Fontbonne. He is 51-53 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 eighth in hitting (.293 team average) and eighth in pitching (5.74 team ERA). Individually, Ryan Bennett is third with 76 hits, sixth with a .392 batting average and fifth with 19 stolen bases. Zach Miller leads the league in RBIs (60) and is tied for sixth in hits (68) and tied for fourth in total bases (117). Ben Braaten leads the league with 47 walks, while Cody Cotter leads the league in times being hit by a pitch with 21. Dave Sever is seventh among A-10 pitchers with a 3.73 ERA and third with 66 strikeouts. Scott Turmail is fourth with 83.2 innings pitched. 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. |
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