May 15, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Junior John Malloy singled in the sixth inning to register his 200th career hit, however La Salle Baseball was defeated by the visiting Richmond Spiders on Friday afternoon in Atlantic 10 action at Hank DeVincent Field, 9-3.

Malloy becomes just the second Explorer ever to reach the 200-hit mark as a junior, joining all-time hit leader Barry Petrachenko (1985-88), who had 201 entering his final year at La Salle and finished with 272.

In the game, the Explorers fell behind early - as the Spiders put up one run on the board in the third, then plated four in the fourth - the big hit a bases clearing triple by Andrew Lowry.

Richmond (22-24, 11-15 A-10) added another run in the fifth - taking a six-run lead on back-to-back doubles by Cameron Brown and Mike Mergenthaler.

Leading off the sixth, Malloy laced a single down the left-field line for his milestone hit, moved to second when TJ Chism was hit by a pitch, and scored on Marc Schoch's RBI double.

That run marked Spider starter Matt Zielinski's first run allowed in three starts in Philadelphia. The La Salle College High School product had thrown 18 scoreless innings before Schoch's RBI.

He improved to 2-4 for the season with the complete-game victory, while La Salle's Kevin Fuqua dropped to 4-5 this year.

La Salle (18-30, 7-18 A-10) plated two runs in the ninth inning - Schoch scored on a sac fly by Adam Kammler and Chris Umstead, who had two hits, came home on Brian Meagher's RBI single.

Saturday will mark the final game of the 2009 season for the Explorers as they will honor their two seniors - Drew Gerhart and Justin Handler - before the game which starts at 1 PM. There will also be a special guest throwing out an honorary first pitch.