May 23, 2013

BOX SCORE | CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –  Saint Louis pounded out 18 hits as it topped Richmond 10-6 in an elimination game of the 2013 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship in Charlotte. 

The win advances Saint Louis in the Championship where it will next play the winner of George Washington and Rhode Island on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Saint Louis’ Michael Bozarth drilled the second pitch of the game over the left field fence to give SLU an early 1-0 lead. 

The Billikens broke the game open with six runs in the second inning.    Braxton Martinez led the frame off with a solo homer of his own.   Steve Fernandez and CJ Rose followed with back-to-back hits.  Two batters later Alec Sole singled to plate both runners and give SLU a 3-0 lead.    Saint Louis would extend its advantage with two outs, getting an RBI single from Jordan Hammerman and a double from Alex Kelly that made it 7-0.

After the first two batters were retired in the third, Richmond rallied for five runs, highlighted by a Adam Forrer grand slam that made it 7-5.

With the score 8-5 SLU, Richmond got a run in the bottom half of the seventh inning to make it 8-6, but that would be as close as it would get as Saint Louis got a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning. 

Jon Levin tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win, improving his record to 3-0 on the season.   Andrew Blum started for Richmond and took loss, dropping to 5-2 on the season.   

Each game of the 2013 A-10 Baseball Championship can be viewed live via webstream on the Atlantic 10’s online home -- www.atlantic10.com.