Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
Saint Louis
Xavier Completes Sweep; Remains Perfect in A-10
04.01.07 | Baseball
April 1, 2007
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Xavier completed the three-game sweep for the second straight conference weekend and moved its winning streak to six games as XU downed host Saint Louis, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon. Junior Michael Lucas game the Musketeers their third straight solid pitching performance and the XU offense capitalized on 11 hits. The Musketeers are now 10-18 on the season and remain a perfect 6-0 in conference play, while Saint Louis is 5-24 overall and 1-5 in A-10 action.
Jordan Wolf got the Musketeer offense going as the senior doubled with two outs in the first. During the next at bat, sophomore Sean Farrell would drive in his second RBI of the weekend to give the Blue and White the early 1-0 lead.
The Billikens answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first as senior Ryan Crespi sent a ball over the left field fence to knot the score at 1-1.
In the top of the fourth, sophomore Neil Lindgren blasted his first homerun of the season to give XU the lead for good but the Musketeers would not stop there. Tyler Aholt would get the offense started again with a single to the shortstop. Aholt followed his at-bat by stealing second before Drew Schmidt singled up the middle to put runners at first and third with one out. Matt Waskerwitz would beat out a double play attempt to plate Aholt and give the Blue and White the 3-1 lead after four.
SLU would get a run back in the home half of the six as sophomore Tom Pinnell took advantage of a dropped foul ball and sent the next pitch over the left field wall to cut the lead to 3-2.
Senior Adam Lipski would push the advantage back to two after he sent his first homerun of the season over the right field fence. With the score 4-2, the Billikens kept battling and got a run back after junior Ryan Barnett hit SLU's third homerun on the day to put the score at 4-3.
The Blue and White would finish with four runs on 11 hits to remain perfect in the conference, marking the first time that a Musketeer squad was an unblemished 6-0 since 2002. That 2002 squad also started a perfect 6-0 before falling in the seventh conference game of the season to St. Bonaventure during the third weekend.
Michael Lucas completed the string of good outings by the Musketeer pitching staff as the junior finished going 7.2 innings and allowing just three runs, two earned, on eight hits while striking out four. He combined with freshman Zac Richard who ended the day throwing 1.1 innings and retiring all four batters he faced with one going down on strikes.
Lindgren and classmate Steve Brown each finished the afternoon with two hits as Lindgren also added an RBI. Seven other Musketeers would notch a hit in the game as each starter recorded a hit and Farrell, Lipski and Matt Waskerwitz would record the other RBIs for XU. Adam Pasono and Wolf each had a double, while Lipski and Lindgren blasted homeruns to account for all of the XU extra-base hits.
The Musketeers will return to action on Tuesday afternoon as Xavier will welcome Ohio University to Hayden Field for a non-conference matchup. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 pm with XU's Zac Richard (3-2, 6.21 ERA) in line to get the start.
