May 11, 2013

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - The Saint Joseph's baseball team dropped the middle game of its weekend series at Saint Louis on Saturday, falling to the Billikens by a 12-6 score. Mike Muha drove in three runs on the day for SJU, while sophomore Brian O'Keefe notched his 100th career hit.

Saint Joseph's (26-22 overall, 12-8 Atlantic 10) took an early lead as Stefan Kancylarz hit a one-out triple and scored on a single by Muha to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

Saint Louis (32-17 overall, 14-6 Atlantic 10) manufactured an equalizer as Mike Vigliarolo was hit by a pitch to lead off the second, advanced to third on a pair of groundouts, and scored on a single by Braxton Martinez.

Chris Hueth put the Hawks back on top in the third with his third home run of the season, a solo shot, to give SJU a 2-1 advantage.

Vigliarolo led off the sixth for the Billikens with a double and came in to score on a single by Grant Nelson to tie the game at 2-2, but it would be short-lived, as the Hawks went back in front in the seventh. Quinn Renner led off with a single before Collin Forgey and Kancylarz drew walks to chase SLU starter Nick Bates. Muha followed with a fielder's choice groundball that brought home Renner and restored the one-run lead for Saint Joseph's.

Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, the Billiken bats exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a grand slam by Vigliarolo, to make it a 10-3 game.

The Hawks loaded the bases in the top half of the eighth and Forgey hit a sacrifice fly to score Greg Kumpel and cut the deficit to six.

Nelson then hit a two-run home run in the bottom half to make it a 12-4 game before Muha led off the ninth with his fourth home run of the year. Hueth then singled home O'Keefe, who had doubled for the 100th hit of his career, with the game's final run.

Jordan Carter tossed six solid innings for the Hawks, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk with two strikeouts, but did not factor in the decision. Steven Schuler took the loss to fall to 2-2, while Matt Eckleman was credited with the victory, improving to 5-0 on the year.

The teams will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday. First pitch from the Billiken Sports Center is set for 1:00 p.m. Eastern.