April 11, 2010

Box Score

CINCINNATI, OH - La Salle Baseball was looking to sweep its second Atlantic 10 Conference series of 2010 at the expense of Xavier, however the Musketeers avoiding that with a 9-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Hayden Field.

After taking the first game on Friday, 6-4, and rallying and holding on for the win on Saturday, 9-8, the Explorers had no answer for the Musketeers as they raced out to a 9-0 lead.

Xavier (8-24, 4-5 A-10) jumped out 3-0 after the first on a Phil Bauer RBI double which was followed by Ben Thomas' two-run home run. Ryan Bellamy added a solo home run in the fourth and Thomas knocked in his third run of the game in the fifth with a single.

That was more than enough run support for Musketeer starter Jon Richard (5-2), who scattered five hits, walked one, and struck out three in seven scoreless innings of work. Markus Kuykendoll threw a perfect eighth before La Salle got its only run in the ninth.

Nate Mutsch was called in to pitch the ninth and pinch hitter Tony Negrin greeted him with a single to center. One out later, Adam Kammler, who was 2-for-2 on the day with a double, singled through the right side before the second out.

Kevin Jones singled to left to score Negrin and Joe Bennie reached on a error to load the bases. However, this time there was no rally, and with that, a number of impressive streaks came to an end.

John Malloy's hitting streak ends at 10 games, his conference hitting streak ends at 24 games, and his reached base streak ends at 48 straight. Brendan Norton's 16-game hitting streak also came to an end as the top three hitters (Malloy, Brian Meagher, and Norton), who were 13-for-27 with nine runs, 10 RBI, and eight extra base hits and the catalysts for the two wins in the series, combined to go 0-for-13.

La Salle (11-18, 6-3 A-10) will take a few days off before returning to action with a non-conference game at Penn on Wednesday starting at 3 PM.

They will get back into A-10 action with a three-game series at Hank DeVincent Field starting on Friday with first pitch slated for 3 PM.