March 6, 2007

Box Score

ORMOND BEACH, FL - Rich Prall hit a one-out bases clearing triple and later scored in the eighth inning to lift the La Salle Baseball team to a 4-1 come-from-behind victory over Bethune-Cookman, Tuesday night at Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

Three Explorer pitchers - Jamie Cowan (4.2 IP), TJ Chism (2.1), and Dennis Burge (2.0) - combined to allow just one unearned run on five hits in the game, keeping the Wildcats' bats at bay until Prall's heroics.

Cowan allowed just two hits and struck out two, but he did walk six batters which led to relief from the bullpen in the fifth. With a runner on second and two outs, he walked the next two batters before Chism ended the inning with a punch-out.

Chism then struck out the side in the sixth inning, but in the seventh, Jose Ortiz singled home Neil Jones to give Bethune-Cookman a 1-0 lead. Jones was pinch running for Drew Clark, who led off the inning by reaching base via an error.

With the lead, Bethune-Cookman (6-11) took out its starter Hiram Burgos, who had gone 7.0 innings, allowed just four hits and struck out eight, and put the game in the arms of the bullpen.

Phil Enright (0-2) retired the first Explorer, but freshmen Brian Meagher and John Malloy registered back-to-back singles and Justin Handler loaded the bases by drawing a walk.

The Wildcats turned to Orlando Bacon to get out of the jam, but Prall doubled to left-center scoring all three baserunners. Francisco Gomez then got the next out before Billy Kern singled home Prall to give the Explorers a 4-1 advantage.

Dennis Burge threw the final two innings for La Salle, pitching a perfect eighth, and pitching out of some trouble in the ninth. With runners on the corners and no outs, Burge stuck out pinch hitter Spencer Hill, then got the last two outs on a double play.

Burge picked up his second career save, while Chism (1-2) won his first collegiate game.

La Salle (5-4) will finish its Florida trip next taking on the natinoally-ranked Miami Hurricanes, Wednesday night at 7 PM.