May 14, 2009

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - The Rhode Island baseball team fell to Saint Louis, 5-3, Thursday night in Atlantic 10 action. Senior Dan Rhault (Lincoln, R.I.), junior Oliver Palmer (North Kingstown, R.I.) and sophomore Pete Mastors (Narragansett, R.I.) each recorded two hits on the night.

The Billikens took a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Cody Cotter led off with a single to left and came around to score on a Ben Braaten home run.

Redshirt junior starter Tim Boyce (Swansea, Mass.) retired the next eight batters, taking the Rams into the top of the fourth where they cut SLU's lead in half. Mastors belted a lead-off double to right centerfield and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Mike LeBel (Quincy, Mass.). Rhault's run-scoring single then plated Mastors to make it a 2-1 game.

Two innings later, Palmer singled to center to send both Rhault and Mastors across the plate, giving Rhody a 3-2 edge.

The Billikens, however, went on to tie it up in the bottom of the frame and pulled ahead with a run in the seventh and another in the eighth to hand Rhode Island its third-straight league loss.

The Rams stranded five over the final three innings - leaving runners in scoring position each time.

Senior reliever Luke Demko (Gilford, N.H.) was charged with the loss, giving up two hits and a run over an inning and a third. Demko replaced Boyce, who allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. Dave Sever took the win for the Billikens.

The loss drops URI's record to 34-18-1 (18-6 A-10) while SLU improves to 30-24 (12-12 A-10). Despite the defeat, Rhody will still receive a first-round bye in next weekend's Atlantic 10 Championship. Regardless of Friday and Saturday's results, the Rams will finish second - behind Dayton - in the league standings. After tonight's URI loss, the Flyers solidified the A-10 regular-season title thanks in part to their extra innings victory over Xavier earlier today.

Rhode Island and Saint Louis will be back in action on Friday evening. First pitch is set for 4 p.m (Eastern Time).

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