@NCBearsBaseball Comeback Falls Just Short

Sunday, March 15

St. Louis, Mo.

11:00 am

University of Northern Colorado

2-11

St. Louis

12-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Colorado	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	4	8	0
Saint Louis	0	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	5	10	1

3/15/2015 4:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

After getting into an early hole, UNC baseball's comeback fell just short in the ninth

By: Parker Cotton, UNCBears.com

ST. LOUIS — A far cry from the first two games, Saint Louis University found itself in a dogfight with Northern Colorado Sunday, but the Billikens still came away with a 5-4 victory.

Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, the Bears got runners to first and second with one out, and Reyn Sugai singled to score Joe Love from second. Back at the top of the order, Ryan Yamane fought to a 3-2 count and popped up to the middle infield. Jensen Park then grounded out to second to end the game.

"I failed to move runners to second and third with Yamane," UNC head coach Carl Iwasaki said. "When you play away, you have to play to win, not play for a tie. I wanted two runners in scoring position for Park."

UNC (2-11) had a rough start again before fighting back into the game. Starter Josh Wagner threw just 14 pitches, and got two outs, before being lifted for an elbow injury.

"We're not sure what's up with Wagner right now, but he was going pretty good before that happened," Iwasaki said.

Spencer Applebach entered the game and threw three straight strikes to end a two-on, two-out situation in the first inning.

The Billikens tagged Applebach for four runs in the second inning, though, and they added their fifth run in the fifth inning on a solo home run.

"One big inning is our Achilles' heel right now," Iwasaki said. "We need to eliminate that."

Applebach pitched 4.2 innings and gave up seven hits, those five runs and he walked one but struck out four.

SLU (12-7) was held scoreless the rest of the way behind Justin Mulvaney's 2.2 innings pitched in which he allowed two hits and nothing else. Allen Cook also came on as a lefty specialist to end the eighth inning.

UNC plated its first two runs in the sixth inning behind a lead-off single from Yamane, who advanced to second on a failed pick-off attempt. Park tripled him home and later scored on Payton Tapia's RBI single.

Jake Ekman's first career home run in the seventh inning went to left field and cut SLU's lead to 5-3, setting the stage for what would happen in the ninth.

Yamane finished 2-for-4 at the dish with a run scored, Brandon Vaughn collected another hit and so did Cole Maltese, who singled in the ninth to help the rally.

"These kinds of efforts in the future are going to pay off," Iwasaki said.

The Bears return to action at 2 p.m. Tuesday for a St. Patrick's Day game with Regis University before starting WAC play at 3 p.m. Friday at Jackson Field against Chicago State.