John Rickards drove in La Salle's first run of the game.

Rich Prall was 2-for-5 with three RBI and one run scored.

Mike Dertouzos was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

George Hudock had three hits and drove in two runs.

CHARLOTTE, NC - In the first of a scheduled three-game set with Atlantic 10 newcomer Charlotte, the La Salle University Baseball team battled back from an eight-run deficit to get as close as a run, but fell to the 49ers, 12-11, Friday night at Tom and Lib Phillips Field.

With the way La Salle has been playing as of late, two wins last week in their final at-bat, and erasing two six-run deficits against Massachusetts last weekend, it looked as if another Explorer would come through with a game-winning hit. However, Charlotte closer Erik Walker pitched the last 2.1 innings and allowed just one hit to dash the Explorer hopes.

Explorer Billy Kern registered his second four-hit game of the season and extended his hitting streak to seven games in the loss. He also scored a career-high tying four times, including La Salle's first run in the top of the first. John Rickards delivered with a two-out RBI single to right field, to give the Explorers a 1-0 lead.

Charlotte (25-12-1, 10-3 A-10) responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame and then added three more in the second inning. Key hits during the 49ers scoring string were an RBI double by Spencer Steedley, back-to-back RBI singles by Aaron Bray and O'Brien Taylor and a RBI double by Mike Ambrose.

La Salle (14-22, 6-6 A-10) was able to cut the deficit down to a two-run margin in the top of the third. Rich Prall extended his hitting streak to a season and team-long eight games with a RBI double to right field, which plated John Vincent and moved Kern to third base. He scored his second run of the game on George Hudock's RBI grounder.

The 49ers put three more runs on the board in the fourth to increase their lead to 8-3. One scored on a balk call, then Ambrose again doubled to right field to drive in two more.

The Explorers had a good chance to get back in the game in the fifth, as the first three batters of the inning all got on base, the last Hudock with a RBI single that scored Kern and moved Prall to second. With one out, Mike Dertouzos hit an infield single to load the bases, but Charlotte starter Derek McDaid got out of the jam with a pop-up and a strikeout.

He would not last the sixth inning, though, when La Salle put runners on second and third with just one out after Kern collected his fourth hit of the game, a double down the right field line. The 49ers went to relief pitcher Zach Rosenbaum, who ended this Explorer threat with the same pop-up, strikeout scenario as an inning before.

With four more runs in the bottom of the sixth, Charlotte upped its advantage to 12-4. The 49ers got two men aboard after the first out of the inning, which chased La Salle starter Dennis Burge. Taylor met reliever John DiPiero with a two-RBI single and then back-to-back RBI doubles by Steedley and Cory Lane seemed to put Charlotte comfortable ahead.

That would not be the case, as the Explorers sent 12 men to the plate in the top of the seventh, faced three Charlotte pitchers, and matched the frame with runs. The following batters all contributed at least one RBI in the seven-run inning - Justin Handler, hit-by-pitch with bases loaded; Vincent, infield single; Kern, bases loaded walk; Prall, bases loaded two-RBI single; Dertouzos, bases loaded two-RBI single - to help get La Salle back to within a run at 12-11.

John Reifsnyder would keep the 49ers off the board in both the seventh and eighth innings, however, Walker, who got the last out in the top of the seventh inning, earned his fourth save of the season, after allowing just one hit in his time on the mound.

However that hit was a two-out triple to Hudock in the ninth, but Walker would strand him at third with his fourth strikeout of the game. McDaid won his eighth game of the season, while Burge (1-4) suffered the loss.

La Salle, which is in the middle of a 10-game road swing, will face Charlotte again on Saturday starting at 2 PM and Sunday at 12 PM.