Saint Louis hands Baseball seventh-straight loss

Friday, March 18

Carbondale, Ill.

2:30 PM

Southern Illinois University

4-13

Saint Louis

12-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Saint Louis	3	0	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	8	11	1
Southern Illinois	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	12	1

03/18/2011 | 12:00:00 | Baseball

Box Score

March 18, 2011

By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saint Louis used a pair of big innings to hand the Southern Illinois baseball team its seventh-straight loss, as the Billikens beat the Salukis, 8-4, Friday at Abe Martin Field.

Saint Louis (12-5) scored three runs in the first and four in the fourth to top SIU (4-13), who did not score in the final five innings.

Interim head coach Ken Henderson said the difference was Saint Louis scoring seven runs with two outs and SIU's inability to bring home its base runners.

"We out hit-them 12-11 today, but we only get four runs on our 12 hits and we leave too many men on base," Henderson said. "We got to learn to perform when it counts."

The Salukis produced double-digits hits for the third consecutive game, but were unable to get enough runs across. That has been the telling story of the losing streak. SIU finished with 12 hits, but stranded 11 runners on base.

All nine men in Southern's lineup had a hit in the game and three of them had two hits. Junior catcher Brian Bajer, who was 2-for-4, had SIU's only extra-base hit in the game with his RBI single in the second inning.

Billiken pitcher Alex Alemann picked up his second win on the year (2-0). He did give up 11 hits in 6.2 innings, but only allowed four runs. Southern Illinois starter Cameron Maldonado was chased out of the game in the fourth inning after giving up nine hits and seven runs. Maldonado drops to 1-4 on the year with the loss.

Saint Louis was led by its six and seven-hole hitters, Jon Myers and Travis Parker, who combined to drive in five of SLU's eight runs. They both had two hits in the game.

SLU scored three runs off of three hits in the first inning, but it was a costly Saluki error that prolonged the frame and allowed the Billikens to tack on two unearned runs.

Southern Illinois came back in the second to tie the game up with a four-hit inning that saw three different batters drive in runs.

The Billikens broke the 3-3 tie in the fourth by scoring four runs, all of which came with two outs.

Nick Johnson, who had an RBI single in the second for the Salukis, drove in his second run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth to cut Saint Louis' lead down to 7-4.

After quiet fifth and sixth innings, Southern Illinois loaded the bases up in the seventh with a single and two walks off of Alemann.

Billiken reliever Jon Levin came in to pitch with two outs and he struck out Wes Neece to keep the Salukis from cutting into their lead.

Saint Louis added an insurance run in the eighth and went on to win 8-4.

Note: The hill behind the first base dugout at Abe Martin Field will be closed to vehicles the rest of the weekend because of poor field conditions. General seating on the hill will still be permitted.