Oct. 20, 2009

ST. LOUIS - In SLU baseball's Fall World Series, the black team holds a 2-1 lead over the white squad in a best-of-five series being played this week. Action resumes Thursday with game four beginning at 3 p.m. at The Billiken Sports Center. Game five, if necessary, will be played at a time to be announced.

The white team evened the series at one-all with a 6-5 victory Monday night. Freshman right-hander Andres Wiltz threw four shutout innings on the mound, while junior catcher Ben Braaten (2-for-4) and senior outfielder Andrew Guerra (2-for-4, RBI) paced the offense for the white team. For the black, freshman Steve Fernandez went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs.

In game three Tuesday, the black team regained the series lead with a 3-1 victory. Junior lead-off hitter Cody Cotter paced the black with two hits and two runs scored, while senior right-hander Bryant Cotton was dominant on the mound allowing just one hit in four innings while striking out three. Junior right-hander Matt O'Neal continued his strong Fall World Series by hurling two scoreless innings, and senior outfielder David Blackwell hit a solo homer to ice the game for the black in the seventh inning. The white team countered with freshman Alex Alemann who again was strong on the mound, allowing only one unearned run in four innings of work.