April 9, 2010
Box Score
CINCINNATI, OH - Brian Meagher had three hits and drove in a pair of runs to help La Salle Baseball open its three-game Atlantic 10 series at Xavier with a 6-4 victory at Hayden Field Friday afternoon.
The two RBI give Meagher five for the season, which is tied for the team lead with John Malloy, who had two hits, scored a pair of runs, and drove in one. Brendan Norton and Jon Gyles also had a pair of hits, while Tony Negrin scored two runs.
The Explorers jumped out early on Xavier as they put two runs on the board in both the first and second frames, and then they added two unearned runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.
Malloy opened the game with a lead-off double, which was followed by a Meagher single. Norton also singled, to plate Malloy, and Meagher scored on a double-play grounder.
La Salle used a two-out rally in the second started by Negrin, who singled to short and then stole second. Malloy drove him home with his second double of the day, the 50th of his career, which ties him for third all-time at the school.
Meagher followed with an RBI double to bring Malloy in with his 125th career run scored, one shy of eighth on the school's top 10 list.
A couple of errors help La Salle put two unearned runs on the board in the fourth as Dan Klem and Negrin both reached on miscues, which allowed Klem to score and Negrin to advance to third. After Malloy drew a walk, Meagher then added his second RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly to center driving in Negrin.
Meanwhile, Explorer starter Eric Van Wyk was cruising with the lead. After allowing three of the first six batters he faced to reach base, he settled in and retired 10 straight from the second through fifth innings.
However, in the sixth, he ran into trouble as the Musketeers plated their first run on a wild pitch, then loaded the bases with two out. Pat Christensen retired the final batter of the frame with a grounder.
Xavier (7-23, 3-4 A-10), though, did not stop with that threat, putting two runners on with one out in the seventh, but Christensen ended the frame with a ground-ball double play.
In the eighth, they loaded the bases again, scored one when John McCambridge drew a walk, then Drew Schmidt singled home two to pull the Musketeers to within 6-4.
Christensen allowed a harmless one-out infield single in the ninth and retired the final two batters to earn his sixth save of the season for Van Wyk, who improved to 3-0 this season.
The six saves are tied for the fifth-most in a single season at the school and are tied for the sixth-most in a career at La Salle.
More notes from Friday's game include Malloy extending his games reached base streak to 47 straight and his A-10 hitting streak to 23 straight. He also moved into a tie for fifth place on the school's all-time hit list with Mike Fuchs (1998-01) at 239.
Norton, whose games scoring a run streak ended at 12 games, but did extend his hitting streak to 15 straight, which is the longest since Malloy's school record 24 during the 2007 season.
Meagher registered his 150th career hit on his 35th career double, which places him ninth on that top 10 list at La Salle.
La Salle (10-17, 5-2 A-10) will continue its three-game set with the Musketeers on Saturday with a 1 PM start.
