Bills Down Florida Atlantic in Dramatic Fashion
March 18, 2008
CLERMONT, Fla. - Saint Louis came from behind to tie the opening game against Florida Atlantic twice, including rallying for three runs in the bottom of the seventh, to claim a 5-4 win over the Owls (21-15) on Tuesday afternoon at the National Training Center in Clermont, Fla. However, the Billikens (8-14) could not convert that momentum into a second win as they fell 10-2 in five innings in the nightcap. The Bills left runners on in the first, second and third innings but it was the Owls who put the first runs on the board in the fourth. Melissa Moore singled to right field to start the rally. After advancing to second on a sac bunt, she moved to third on a wild pitch with two outs. Then starter Lorena Floccari (1-5) walked Lauren Crandall, who stole second to put two Owls in scoring position. Amy Bukovich came through with a two-run single to give FAU a 2-0 edge. In the bottom of the fourth, SLU took advantage of four walks to push across a run and cut into the lead. Florida Atlantic eventually escaped the inning with a double play but the Billikens got a solo home run from Caitlin Trevillyan, the first of her collegiate career, in the fifth to knot the score at 2-2. The lead was short-lived though as Crandall hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to put FAU back up by two at 4-2. SLU's rally in the seventh started with an Allison Hopke walk. She moved to second on a sac bunt, and then with one out advanced to third on a wild pitch. Then Trevillyan gave the Bills two runners in scoring position after drawing a walk and moving to second on a passed ball. Rachel Heet came through with the hit SLU needed as she singled up the middle to bring in both runners for the 4-4 tie. Then she scored on Nicki Jost's single through the left side to give Saint Louis the one-run victory.
Heet led the Billiken offense with two runs, two hits and two RBIs. Erin Kelly picked up the win after tossing 1-1/3 innings of relief. She allowed just two hits and struck out one while Floccari gave up four runs on six hits, a walk and three strikeouts in the first 5-2/3 innings. In game two, FAU hung two runs on SLU's Kelly in the bottom of the first courtesy of two hits, a passed ball, three wild pitches and a pair of walks. With Stacy Gillette (1-6) on in relief, the Owls added four runs on four hits in the second frame for a 6-0 advantage. Then Floccari made her second appearance of the day, but she hit the first batter she faced and surrendered an RBI single before escaping the inning with the Bills in a 7-0 hole. In the top of the third, SLU scored its only runs of the game after Rachel O'Connell reached on a FAU error with one out. With two outs, Heet reached on an infield single and Jost brought O'Connell across on a single down the right-field line. Heet moved to third on the hit and eventually scored on a passed ball to cut the margin to 7-2. But the Owls added two runs on four hits in the third and a single run on an error in the bottom of the fifth to end the game courtesy of the run rule. SLU's offense was sluggish in game two as it had only three hits, which came from the top three hitters in the lineup just like in the opener. Kelly (6-3) took the loss in the circle after giving up two hits and two walks for two unearned runs in the first 2/3 of an inning. |
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