ST. LOUIS, Mo. -
Western Illinois staged a ninth inning rally but fell short in an 11-7 loss at
Saint Louis on a cold, windy and at times rainy Tuesday afternoon (March 9).
The Leathernecks dropped to 4-5 on the year.
Bryan Jordan led
off the second inning with a double. He took third on a wild pitch, then
Western loaded the bases with no one out when Dan Dispensa walked and Chris Giglio was hit by a pitch. Andrew Hagins lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jordan. However, SLU (7-6) got out
of the jam on a groundout and strikeout.
The Billikens loaded the bases in the fourth with one out.
Steve Fernandez lined a 2-run single. During the next at-bat Connor Gandossy
could not get a bunt down on the suicide bunt attempt and Jon Myers was caught
stealing on the play. Carlos Pinedo struck
out Gandossy to end the threat.
In the fifth, Pinedo got the first batter out on a groundout
but from there the Billikens used five hits, three walks and an error to plate
six runs. Relief pitcher Travis Pedersen
used a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning but not before Saint Louis took
an 8-1 lead.
Curt Myers,
making his first appearance in two weeks, lined a RBI single in the sixth after
Jason Summers led off the inning
with a double. Western scored two more times in the seventh. Hagins singled,
took second on a balk, stole third and scored on the catcher Gandossy's
throwing error. Myers lined a RBI single to score Tom Lilja but on the play Summers tried scoring and was thrown out
at the plate to end the inning.
SLU scored one more in the seventh and two in the eighth to
take an 11-4 lead. Pinch-hitter Rich Mascheri led off the ninth with a single. Two batters later Lilja dropped a
single into shallow right field, but Mascheri was caught between first and
second and was out on the force play.
Summers and Myers singled to load up the bases. Jordan lined
a RBI single through the left side then Dispensa lined a 2-run double down the
left field line to make it a four-run deficit. However, Jason Bell struck out
Giglio to end the game.
Lilja, Summers and Myers (the 2-4 hitters in the line-up)
each recorded a 3-hit game. Lilja set a career-high while Myers tied his
career-high and Summers matched his season mark. Jordan added two hits as
Western out-hit Saint Louis 14-11.
Pinedo was charged for eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits
in 4.1 innings. He walked two and struck out three. Pedersen was charged for a
run in 2.1 innings and Chris Duguay allowed
one earned run in 1.1 innings of work.
Fernandez went 4-for-5 with four RBI for SLU. Ben Braaten
added three hits. Making his first collegiate start, Andres Wiltz (1-0) gave up
one run on two hits in five innings.
Western returns to action on Wednesday night (March 10),
playing at Missouri. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and can be heard on
Rocky Vision.
