April 2, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - Jeff Flax and Tony Negrin each had three hits, but La Salle Baseball left 15 men on base which included the bases loaded in the second, seventh, and ninth, and visiting Duquesne ended up winning the game in the 10th frame, 8-6, handing the Explorers their first Atlantic 10 Conference loss of the season Friday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field.
For Flax and Negrin, it was the second three-hit game for each of them, while Flax scored a run and drove in another and Negrin brought home one. Brian Meagher was the only other Explorer with a multi-hit game; he had two with one run and one RBI. Jon Gyles and Marc Schoch also drove in a run and scored a run.
La Salle took an early three-run lead after one, plating all its runs with two outs. Brendan Norton walked, stole second and scored on Gyles' single. Flax hit a triple to center and Schoch followed with a double to right.
Explorer starter Kevin Christy allowed base runners in all five innings he pitched, but kept La Salle in front by only allowing two runs, one earned, and striking out a career-high nine Dukes.
Negrin singled home Schoch in the sixth inning to put the Explorers up two, but Duquesne answered with an unearned run in the seventh off reliever Kevin Fuqua.
Duquesne (5-20, 1-4 A-10) added another run in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4 when Andrew Heck, who was 5-for-5 with three runs, crossed the plate on Rick Devereaux's RBI double.
In the bottom of the frame, Meagher doubled home John Malloy with a two-out double and before Anthony DeFabio tied the game again in the top of the ninth with a one-out solo home run.
La Salle (8-15, 4-1 A-10) managed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth before Duke pitcher Joe Lombardo, their fifth of the game, induced three straight ground balls, two which forced the runner at home, and the third ended the frame.
The Dukes then put three on the board in the 10th and the Explorers answered with just one in the bottom, not enough to get their fifth straight conference win to open the season.
Malloy singled in the second to extend his A-10-only hitting streak to 21 straight games and his games reached base streak to 43 straight contests. The last time he did not get a hit in league action or reach base was the same game, April 10, 2009 in the first game of a double header at Rhode Island. He also swiped a bag today, giving him 33 career stolen bases, which is tied for the ninth most at the school.
Norton extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the seventh and his run in the first marked the ninth straight contest he crossed the plate. With just the one hit, his multi-hit game streak ended at seven straight games, but he did walk three times raising his on-base percentage to .521.
La Salle will go for its second straight A-10 series win on Saturday when the Blue and Gold conclude its set with Duquesne at 1 PM.
