April 24, 2009
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA – La Salle Baseball jumped out to an early four-run lead, however visiting Massachusetts rallied in the sixth to claim the first game of the three-game Atlantic 10 series at Hank DeVincent Field, Friday afternoon, 9-6.
Tony Negrin, TJ Chism, and Justin Handler each had a pair of hits, while Chris Umstead drove in a career-high three runs and Chism scored twice to push his season total to 41.
The Explorers took the 4-0 lead after the first inning, with the big hit Umstead’s two-RBI triple, which scored Chism and Marc Schoch.
John Malloy also had an RBI in the frame with a single, which scored Negrin, and Handler drove in Jeff Flax with a sacrifice fly to center.
Massachusetts (15-19, 8-8 A-10) cut its deficit in half with two runs in the top of the second on a Tom Conley RBI single and Kyle Multner’s RBI triple.
The Explorers tacked on single runs in the middle innings to push their lead back to four at 6-2. Zack Feierstein led off the fourth with a solo home run to left, the first of his career.
In the fifth, Umstead drove in his third run of the game with a ground out, which scored Chism from third.
The Minutemen responded with seven runs in the sixth inning as they sent 11 men to the plate. Matt Gedman drove in the first run with a single. Then Multner hit a sacrifice fly to left for the second out of the inning, and pulled UMass to within 6-4.
Massachusetts next five batters reached base, with Sam Boone hitting an RBI triple, Austin Weymouth had an RBI single and Jim Macdonald knocked in a pair with a double. Mike Gedman completed the UMass rally with an RBI double before Dennis Burge got the final out of the inning with a pop-up – the only batter he faced in the contest.
Mitchell Clegg (4-1) allowed a one-out single to Handler in the seventh, ending his day. Bryan Leigh closed out the game, surrendering just one hit in his 2.2 innings of work to earn his first save of 2009.
Zach Huff started the game for La Salle and went five innings, before being lifted for relief. Kevin Christy threw the final three innings, allowing two hits and striking out four.
La Salle (15-21, 4-11 A-10) and the Minutemen will continue their three-game A-10 series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 PM.
