April 16, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - Jon Gyles stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 12th inning with the bases loaded, two out and a single shy of the cycle. The La Salle Baseball sophomore lined a pitch back through the middle to collect his seventh RBI of the afternoon, which included the game winner, to hit for the cycle, and to give the Explorers a thrilling 11-10 come-back win over Temple in Atlantic 10 Conference action at Hank DeVincent Field, Friday.
Gyles was the catalyst for the team's comeback as he went 5-for-7 with two runs scored. The five hits are the most since John Rickards and TJ Chism each had five at Saint Peter's on May 15, 2007. The seven RBI are the most since Mike Fuchs had eight in a 19-13 win versus Monmouth on March 7, 1999.
His 12 total bases are the most since Rickards had 13 thanks to three home runs and single on April 2, 2006 and it is unknown if he is the first Explorer to ever hit for the cycle.
With his team trailing 5-0 to start the bottom of the second, Gyles blasted a solo home run to start the rally and Chris Umstead also hit one three batters later.
Gyles knocked in his second run of the afternoon to pull the Explorers to within two at 6-4 as he plated Brendan Norton with a double in the third. He then made 7-6 with an RBI ground out in the fifth, which brought home Brian Meagher, who doubled to lead off the frame.
Temple (4-25, 1-9 A-10) took an 8-6 lead in the top of the seventh when Adrian Perez scored on a double play after leading off the inning with a double. In all, the Owls had 11 extra base hits, including three home runs, and only three of them did not score.
That included Jabair Khan, who hit a one-out double in the eight inning and tried to score on a double steal, but was thrown out at the plate to keep the Owls to just a two-run advantage.
In the bottom of the frame, Tony Negrin, who had three hits and scored two runs, hit a one-out single and was on third after Meagher was hit by a pitch and Norton singled to load the bases.
In an almost full downpour, Gyles laced a bases-clearing triple off the left-center field fence to give the Explorers their first lead of the game. He later came home to make it 10-8 on a Jeff Flax RBI single.
Ryan Ferguson tied the game in the top of the ninth with a one-out two-run home run to right field, his only hit of the afternoon.
After that, the rest of the ninth and the 10th and 11th innings, the pitchers won the battle, as Temple's Ryan Thomas and La Salle's Pat Christensen combined to allow just two base runners on an error and a walk.
In the 12th, Christensen (3-3) was still cruising after allowing the only hit, a one-out single, in his 3.2 innings of work. He went on to strike out the side and, in all, had five Ks.
Thomas, in his fourth inning, allowed a lead-off pinch-hit double to Eric Kammler, but then struck out his fifth and sixth batters sandwiched around an intentional walk to John Malloy. As he struck out his sixth, pinch runner Joe Bennie and Malloy stole a base, which then prompted another intentional walk to Norton.
With the bases loaded and Cody Weiss on third, a substitution for Bennie, Gyles came through once again with the single and his seventh RBI of the game, his team-leading 31st of the season.
Meagher, Norton, and Negrin all scored twice in the game, while Umstead also had three hits. Explorer starter Eric Van Wyk struck out a career-high nine Owls in his six innings on the mound.
The 12 innings were the most since La Salle dropped a 5-4 decision at Fordham on May 18, 2007. It was also the longest home game, by innings, since a 5-4 loss to Dayton on May 5, 2007.
La Salle (12-19, 7-3 A-10) now matches its best record ever to start the A-10 slate with the 1996 squad that also had seven wins through 10 games. The Explorers will continue their three-game set with Temple on Saturday with first pitch slated for 1 PM.
