March 12, 2008
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University Baseball team jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a two-run home run by Chris Crawford in the first, but a seven-run fourth inning by the visiting Villanova Wildcats pushed them to a 13-9 victory at Hank DeVincent Field, Wednesday night.
Just two batters into their line-up, the Explorers made it 1-0, when Rick Gehman doubled to lead off the first and scored on Justin Handler's RBI triple. Two outs later, with Kevin Jones at bat, Handler would score on a passed ball to make it 2-0. Jones would walk before Crawford homered to right-center.
Villanova (4-8) answered with three runs in the top of the second with just one ball leaving the infield. With one out, James Dolbier doubled down the left-field line, followed by an infield single and a walk to load the bases.
An error would allow Dolbier to score and kept the bases loaded, a ground out to second plated another, and another infield hit plated a third.
La Salle (1-13) made it 5-3 in the bottom of the third when Jones - who went 2-for-4 on the day with two runs scored and two RBI - scored on a Brian Meagher ground ball.
However, it was the Wildcat fourth that made the difference in the contest, as they sent 10 batters to the plate with the big hit being Dolbier's grand slam home run, which was followed by Joe Cotter's solo shot. The pair each had three hits on the day, each scored three runs, while Dolbier drove in five runs.
Down 11-5, the Explorers battled back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth - on a Jones two-RBI double - and two more in the seventh to pull with a pair, but Villanova added two of their own in the top of the eighth to make it 13-9.
Brian Streilein (1-2) picked up the win for the Wildcats, pitching six innings and allowing seven runs, while Kevin Fuqua (1-2) took the loss.
Gehman and Shane Frangiosa each went 3-for-5 on the day, while John Malloy had two hits - his third straight two-hit game.
La Salle will take Thursday off, before playing three more games this weekend, hosting Long Island (Friday, 3 PM) and Saint Peter's (Sunday, 12 PM), while playing at Temple, Saturday at 1 PM.
