May 24, 2013

BOX SCORE | CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

CHARLOTTE, NC –  Top-seeded Saint Louis earned a trip to the A-10 Baseball Championship finals with 6-4 come from behind win over fourth-seeded Xavier on Friday evening.

SLU (39-19) will meet second-seeded Charlotte at Noon on Saturday.  The three-time A-10 Champion 49ers will need one win to claim the conference title, while Saint Louis will need to defeat Charlotte twice to earn its second A-10 crown.   Xavier ends its season 32-26.

Xavier cracked the scoreboard first when Vinny Nattoli doubled to open the second inning.  After the next two batters were retired, Patrick Paligraf delivered an RBI single to make it 1-0.

The Musketeers got three runs in the third inning to extend its lead to 4-0.  Derek Hasenbeck and Paligraf each had RBI hits in the inning with two outs.

Braxton Martinez got the Saint Louis offense started in the fourth inning with a leadoff double.  Two batters later, Steve Fernandez plated Marinez with an RBI single to make it 4-1, while a Michael Bozarth sacrifice fly made it 4-2.

Saint Louis tied the game with a pair of runs in the fifth inning and would score two more runs in eighth inning to take the lead for good at 6-4.  The decisive frame was highlighted by an Alex Kelly RBI single with two outs.

Bills’ reliever Marco Mejia came out of the bullpen and allowed just one hit over four innings to pick up his third win of the year.   Jacob Bonder took the loss for Xavier, dropping his record to 6-2 on the season.