May 14, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - John Malloy capped off one of his best offensive days as an Explorer with a lead-off solo home run to lift La Salle Baseball to a 13-12 come-from-behind victory over St. Bonaventure on Friday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field.
The senior stepped to the plate in the 11th after the Explorers had battled back from a 12-8 deficit entering the bottom of the eighth inning. He sent the 3-1 Jamie Wallschlaeger (1-2) pitch deep into the trees over the fence and set off the second home-plate celebration of the week in extra frames. Jeff Flax hit a walk-off three-run shot, also in the 11th, to give La Salle a 12-10 win on Tuesday over Rider.
Malloy tied his career-high with seven at-bats in the game, tied his season-high for runs (3) and hits (4), and set a career-high with the four RBI and nine total bases in the contest.
In all six Explorers had at least two hits in the game, led by Malloy, while Tony Negrin, Brendan Norton, and Chris Umstead each had three and Jon Gyles and Eric Kammler had two. Negrin, Gyles, and Kammler all scored twice and Gyles and Flax drove in a pair of runs.
The statistic of the contest was definitely two-out hits and two-out RBI as the Bonnies were 7-for-19 (.368) with two out and drove home seven of their 12 runs. La Salle was better, getting 13-of-23 (.565) two-out hits and driving in 10. In fact, as the Explorers built a five-run lead after five frames, as all their runs came with two out.
They scored four in the first, as Malloy started the rally with a double, followed by a Gyles RBI single, a Flax RBI single, and an Umstead RBI double.
Kammler gave La Salle a 5-2 lead in the third with an RBI single and, in the fifth, Negrin had a RBI single and Malloy a two-RBI single with two out to push the La Salle lead to 8-3.
Kevin Christy threw six innings for the Explorers, allowing eight hits, no walks, three runs and struck out six Bonnies before being pulled for relief. Those Ks pushed his season total to 74, the fifth-most at the school and just three behind a pair tied with 77. It also gave him 100 for his Blue and Gold career.
St. Bonaventure (16-28, 7-16 A-10) then batted around in the next two frames, putting four runs on the board in the seventh and five in the eighth using mainly singles and walks to plate their runs. Of the seven hits in those two innings, only Jesse Bosnik had an extra base hit, a double.
With one runner on first and one out in the eighth and the Bonnies holding an 11-8 lead, Shane Petrellis (1-2) ended the frame allowing just one hit, which scored a run, but got the final two outs of the inning.
La Salle (19-28, 12-11 A-10) got one run back in the bottom of the eighth as Flax drove in Gyles. In the ninth, again with two out and runners on first and second, the Explorers made one last rally.
Malloy doubled home Kammler and put himself and Negrin in scoring position. Gyles was hit by the first pitch he saw and Norton laced a pitch back up the middle to tie the game at 12.
Petrellis retired eight straight Bonnies, which included a perfect ninth and 10th with three strikeouts, before allowing a one-out walk in the 11th. A sacrifice bunt moved him over, but a pop to second ended the frame before Malloy's heroics ended the game one batter later.
With the win, La Salle has now won more A-10 home games than ever before (9), ties the 2006 squad with the most wins ever in an A-10 season (12) with four games remaining, and becomes the fastest team to post 12 wins in a season (22 games). They have also won 13 overall home games for the first time as a member of the A-10.
The Explorers and Bonnies will complete their three-game Atlantic 10 series with one more game on Saturday with first pitch slated for 12 PM. It will be Senior Day for La Salle as the team will honor five players before the contest.
