Philadelphia, PA - La Salle freshman Matt Dunaway's (Little Rock, AR/Central Arkansas Christian) walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Explorers over the Villanova Wildcats 12-10 today, Thursday, April 28th. The homerun for the rookie was his only hit of the game as he finished 1-5 with three runs scored and two batted in.
It did not look good for La Salle as Villanova jumped out to a 7-0 lead, scoring six third inning runs none of which were earned. The Explorers had not registered a run by the fourth inning, had left three runners on base, but tallied only one hit.
The fifth inning would prove to turn the game around for La Salle starting off with a single out of freshman John Rickards (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks West) followed by a single from sophomore John Vincent (Glen Bernie, MD/Cardinal Gibbons) moving Rickards to second. With no outs and runners on first and second junior Mike Essery (Havertown, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) hit the squad's third single of the inning, this to center field to load the bases.
The Wildcats then got the forced out at home off of Dunaway's single, but senior Ryan Parfit (Flourtown, PA/La Salle) was not about to let the Explorers go scoreless in an already successful inning. Parfit ripped a single to right field and scored Vincent for La Salle's first run of the game. The Explorers did not stop there as sophomore Rich Prall (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks West) stepped to the plate and hit a rocket up the middle for two RBI, scoring both Dunaway and Essery and putting the Explorers back in the game as they trailed 7-3 heading into the sixth.
The Wildcats had no answer for La Salle's three runs. The Explorers however were not done at three as they tacked on four more runs in the sixth to even the score at seven scoring all four runs with two outs. Senior Phil Marino (Blackwood, NJ/Highland) scored the first run off of Vincent's single through the left side. Essery and Dunaway then loaded the bases after both were hit by pitch. Parfit then had the chance to be the hero and hit a bomb to center field making his way to third base and scoring all the runners on base to tie the score at seven.
Villanova then sparked a three run inning of its own in the seventh to take the lead back and go up 10-7. But, La Salle tasted the victory and sophomore Billy Kern (Northfield, NJ/Mainland) started the inning off with a single to center field followed by a single by Marino to put runners on first and second. Freshman Grant Harm (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) then grounded out, but sent Kern and Marino to second and third. Rickards then singled to score Kern and Vincent hit a double to bring Marino home and put La Salle to within one run. Essery then sent Rickards home on a ground out to even the score at ten.
The Wildcats would remain at ten runs and had extra innings on their minds as the two teams entered the bottom of the ninth. Vincent started the inning off and had his fourth hit of the game to put the winning run on first. Essery stepped to the plate and bunted, looking to move Vincent one base closer, but Villanova got Vincent out at second. Dunaway stepped to the plate with one out and the winning run on first and crushed a ball over the right field fence for the walk-off homerun and the 12-10 victory.
La Salle sophomore Gerard Breslin (Havertown, PA/Haverford) improved to 4-0 with the win as he pitched the final two innings for the Explorers. Breslin has made his way not only into the La Salle record books with saves, but he has the lowest ERA in the nation at 0.97.
The Explorers, now 17-23 overall, will take the weekend off and prepare for final exams, but will jump back into action next weekend, May 6th-7th as they host the Richmond Spiders in Atlantic 10 conference action.
