April 25, 2009
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA – After visiting Massachusetts battled back from a five-run deficit to tie the game at 5-all, Brian Meagher hit a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run and La Salle Baseball registered the 6-5 victory on Saturday afternoon in Atlantic 10 action at Hank DeVincent Field.
After the Minutemen drew even in the eighth, it was up to the bottom of the order, which (the six through nine hitters) were a combined 1-for-10 on the afternoon with one hit and two walks.
Marc Schoch led off the frame with a double to center field and Chris Umstead – trying to just move pinch runner Rick Gehman to third with a sacrifice bunt – hit a bunt single putting runners on the corners with no outs.
Zack Feierstein hit a chopper to short, but with the infield playing in; Gehman could not make it home. Meagher followed with a drive to right, deep enough to bring in the winning run.
In a game just like Friday, the Explorers jumped out early, scoring an unearned run in the first inning thanks to the speed of lead-off man Tony Negrin.
He reached on a hurried throw, took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jeff Flax and scored on a TJ Chism fielder’s choice. La Salle is 5-2 with Negrin batting in the number one spot.
La Salle took a 5-0 lead with four runs in the second, as Meagher hit a one-out triple to left center and scored on a wild pitch. Flax and John Malloy then hit back-to-back two-out singles before Chism drove them in with a three-run home run to right.
For Chism, it was his ninth long ball of the season – the most by an Explorer in five seasons (George Hudock, 2004) and ties him for the eighth-most in a single season at the school.
He now has 42 runs scored – two shy of the top 10, and 40 RBI – tied for the 10th most. Chism now becomes just the fifth Explorer all-time to score at least 40 runs and drive in 40 runs in the same season
Meanwhile, on the mound, Kevin Fuqua was cruising. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before allowing hit first base runner via a hit-by-pitch.
Massachusetts (15-20, 8-9 A-10) then used back-to-back RBI hits by Jim Macdonald – a triple – and Mike Donato – a single – to cut its deficit to 5-2.
The Minutemen’s starter Nick Serino settled in after the Chism homer, retiring 15 of the last 18 batters he faced – allowing a Flax two-out bunt single in the fourth, a two-out walk to Schoch in the fifth, and Flax reached via an error in the seventh.
After a wild pitch and a ground out advanced Flax to third, Massachusetts called in Mike DiCato from the pen to register the final out of the frame.
Fuqua surrendered just two singles over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, and both base runners were erased on 5-4-3 double plays to keep the Explorers ahead by three.
However, another hit batter was followed by a single, and a fly out to center put runners on second and third with two out in the eighth. Brian Baudinet tied the game with a three-run home run to right to ended Fuqua’s day.
Dennis Burge finished the eighth, and then pitched a perfect ninth – after the Explorers took the lead – to improve his record to 2-0 out of the pen this season and 12-10 in his career.
This was his 59th career appearance – tying him for ninth on the school’s all-time list, the 12 victories is tied for sixth, his 4.15 career ERA is sixth, and his 115 strikeouts are tied for 10th.
Two other historical notes, Justin Handler becomes just the fifth Explorer in the school’s history to record at least 650 at bats – now with 652. Fuqua started his 24th career game, tied for 10th all-time.
La Salle (16-21, 5-11 A-10) will look for its second straight A-10 series win and third of the season in the rubber match with UMass on Sunday, first pitch scheduled for 12 PM.
