March 17, 2007
Box Score
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -
With snow flurries in the air and temperatures in the 30's, Saturday's Illinois State baseball game against Saint Louis was certainly not typical of spring baseball weather. To make matters worse, the teams battled into extra innings on the blustery day with the Billikens (3-15) eventually coming out on top, 5-4, over the Redbirds (7-9) in 12 innings.
Senior reliever Kyle O'Brien (0-1) suffered the loss in two and a third innings of relief, with his leadoff walk to L.J. Watson in the 12th inning ending up as the winning run for SLU. B.J. Rodrigue (2-1) earned his second win in two games for the Billikens, as he held ISU scoreless in three innings of relief.
ISU head coach Jim Brownlee is surprised by his team's lack of offense in the past two games, which have resulted in two defeats.
"All of a sudden our team is out of sync offensively and I don't know how that has happened," said Brownlee. "Coming into this series, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and all of a sudden aren't executing at the plate. We just need to get back to the basics tomorrow and try to salvage the series."
After two scoreless innings of play to start the game, the Redbirds put the first run of the day on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. With two runners on base and two outs, Matt Bolt singled into left field, which plated O'Brien from second base to give ISU the early 1-0 lead. However, a Gilbert Marlowe RBI single in the bottom half of the inning scored J.D. Dunn and tied the game at 1-1 for the Billikens.
The pitcher's duel continued until the top of the sixth inning, when the Redbirds pushed three runs across the plate to take a 4-1 lead. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kevin Konsler laced a single into left field on a full count to score Bolt and Ryan Anetsberger for the first two runs of the inning as Kevin Dubler advanced to third base on the play. O'Brien then followed with a single up the middle, which allowed Dubler to score and gave ISU a three-run advantage.
That lead would not last long, as the Billikens tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the inning on a RBI double by Bill Musselman and a two-run RBI single by Blake Bratcher. The Billikens had a chance to score with runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Jim Sajewich struck out Greg Rodgers to end the inning and send the game to extra innings.
Both teams went scoreless in the 10th and 11th innings, which sent the game to the 12th. After the Redbirds failed to score in the top half of the 12th inning, the Billikens ended the marathon game on a game-ending, two-out RBI single by Ryan Crespi to win the game. O'Brien played well on St. Patrick's Day for ISU, going 4-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI. Rodgers paced the SLU offense with three hits, while Bratcher helped by driving in two runs.
The finale of the three-game weekend series will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Billiken Sports Center. Senior Luke Baughman (0-1, 6.97) will take the mound for the Redbirds trying to avoid the series sweep.
