April 7, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - In its final game of a 13-game, 20-day home stand, La Salle Baseball registered an 8-7 victory over Temple at Hank DeVincent Field in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon.
Brendan Norton, Jon Gyles, and Jeff Flax all registered three hits and produced three runs for the Explorers, while John Malloy had a pair of hits.
After falling behind 3-0 after the top of the first, Malloy led off the game with a triple to right center and scored two batters later on a Norton single to center. Norton crossed the plate on a Gyles double to right to cut the Owl lead to one at 3-2.
La Salle took a one-run lead in the third as three straight hits produced a pair of runs. Gyles doubled down the left-field line and scored on a Flax double. Kevin Jones brought home Flax with a single back through the middle.
Temple (3-21) tied the game in the fourth on a solo home run by Jabair Khan, then took a 7-4 lead on back-to-back round trippers in the fifth as Ben Flanary hit a two-run shot and David Hall followed with a solo shot.
The Explorers battled back with two runs in both the fifth and sixth frames. Malloy singled home Eric Kammler in the fifth and Joe Bennie came around on the play as Temple committed a pair of throwing errors.
In the sixth, Norton singled to lead off the frame and moved to third on a hit-and-run single with Gyles. Flax plated Norton with single and on a Jones fly to center, Gyles moved up to third with one out. He would score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
Joe Vincent (1-0), the fourth Explorer pitcher in the game threw two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and struck out two. Pat Christensen tossed the final two scoreless frames, striking out two to earn his fifth save of the season.
The five saves in 2010 move him into a tie for the sixth-most in a single-season at La Salle and also place him in a tie for ninth in career saves.
Norton registered his fourth three-hit game of the season and his team-leading 15th multi-hit game of the year. He also extended his two streaks, 14th straight game with a hit and 12th straight with scoring a run.
Gyles also now has four three-hit games in 2010, and notched his 10th multi-hit contest, as Flax makes it three three-hit games and nine multi-hit games. Malloy extended his reached-base streak to 46 straight games.
La Salle (9-17) finished its home stand 7-6 and will play its first road game since a March 17 4-2 victory at Saint Peter's on Friday at 3 PM at Xavier, the start of a three-game Atlantic 10 series in Cincinnati.
