SAUGET, Ill. - Western Illinois baseball (5-9) and Saint Louis (14-5) were forced to move Friday's
game to GCS Stadium due to wet field conditions at the Billiken Sports
Complex. Western Illinois cut the deficit to two runs but a two-run
bottom of the eighth inning put the game out of reach for the Purple
& Gold and Saint Louis won, 6-2.
The second contest of the St. Louis Tournament is Saturday
against Tennessee-Martin at noon. The field conditions in St. Louis may
continue to force the teams to play at GCS Stadium. Dustin Hunter (1-0)
will go against Willie Frederick (1-2) for the Skyhawks.
Rich
Mascheri (1-4) picked up the loss for the Leathernecks after allowing
four runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. Western Illinois collected
five hits, including Danny Marcuzzo's first home run of the season.
Mascheri
(1-for-2) extended his hitting streak to four games and scored a run
for the Leathernecks. Ryan Cowhey (1-for-3) has now reached base in nine
consecutive contests after a single and a walk.
SLU struck first
in the first inning with a two-out RBI single through the left side
from Steve Fernandez. Mascheri had retired six straight Billikens until
Grant Nelson singled in the bottom of the fourth. Following the single,
Mike Vigliarolo smacked a two-run home run to right field to give SLU a
3-0 advantage. Another RBI single, this time into right field, gave the
Billikens a 4-0 lead.
SLU's starter Alex Alemann (4-0) had
retired six straight until giving up back-to-back walks to begin the
fifth. Dan Dispensa singled up the middle to get Western on the
scoreboard. The run snapped a 27 2/3 scoreless inning streak for
Alemann.
Marcuzzo cut the lead in half in the seventh at 4-2 with
a home run to right field. SLU added two unearned runs in the eighth
inning off Nick Milligan, who had relieved Mascheri in the sixth inning.
Errors by Milligan and Reyes and a two-out single by Alex Sole led to
the Billikens' insurance runs.
Western Illinois put two runners
on base in the ninth inning off Jim Foster. Mascheri was hit by a pitch
with one out and Vince Howard singled to left center. Travis Parker came
out of the bullpen to induce a Marcuzzo double play that ended the
game.
