May 7, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - Behind a strong pitching effort from sophomore lefty Eric Van Wyk, who shook off a shaky fifth frame to pick up his fifth win of the season, La Salle Baseball rallied from a three-run deficit to take the first game a three-game Atlantic 10 Conference series with visiting Saint Louis, 7-5, at Hank DeVincent Field Friday afternoon.
Van Wyk is now 5-1 on the season in seven starts, all A-10 series-opening starts in which La Salle is 6-1, which is the most for an Explorer team in A-10 history. He followed up a one-hit seven-plus inning effort last week with a masterful performance this week as he notched his first collegiate complete game.
He retired the first eight batters he faced and did not surrender a hit until Jon Myers hit a two-out single in the fourth. With a two-run lead and one out in the fifth, Van Wyk ran into some trouble.
Back-to-back hits put runners on second and third and Van Wyk got Mike Levine to ground to short. Connor Gandossy, who doubled after Steve Fernandez's single, was caught in a rundown, but managed to get back to second as Levine reached first and Fernandez scored.
Saint Louis (23-23, 10-9 A-10) loaded the bases with a walk, then J.D. Dunn laced a double to right center, scoring two, and before the frame was done, two more came home. Van Wyk ended the inning as he started; getting Ben Braaten to fly out, but the Billikens led 5-2.
La Salle, which had taken a 2-0 lead in the third on back-to-back RBI singles by John Malloy and Jon Gyles, responded in the bottom of the inning with one on a Brian Meagher RBI single, which plated Eric Kammler with his second run of the day.
In the sixth, back-to-back hit by pitches and a sac bunt put runners in scoring position and Marc Schoch knocked one in with a sacrifice fly to pull the Explorers to within a run at 5-4.
Tony Negrin started a seventh-inning rally as La Salle put three on the board to take back its lead at 7-5. Negrin hit an infield single, stole second and moved to third on Meagher's grounder to second.
Malloy, who was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, then singled through a drawn-in right side of the infield and moved to second when Gyles was hit by a pitch. Brendan Norton singled up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run and Chris Umstead gave the Explorers a little insurance with an RBI single to right.
That was all the runs Van Wyk would need, as he retired the final 13 batters he faced, including the final batter with his fifth strikeout of the game. He allowed just five hits, four in the five-run fifth, and walked three.
Jerry Mancuso fell to 5-6 on the season after going eight innings, allowing 11 hits, seven runs, no walks and two strikeouts. Jon Levin pitched a perfect eighth for Saint Louis.
With the win, La Salle won its 10th game at home in 2010, the third straight season with double figures in wins, while seven have come in A-10 play, tying for the second-most in a single season with the 2006 squad. The most during one season is eight home A-10 wins, held by the 2008 team.
The Explorers also reached the 10-win mark in conference victories for only the fourth time as an A-10 member, and it is the second-fastest, trailing only the 1999 squad that took 17 games.
With his RBI in the third, Gyles knocked in his 41st run of the season, tying him for 10th on the single season list. With the win, Van Wyk is now tied for ninth on the single-season victories list.
La Salle (16-26, 10-9 A-10) will continue its three-game set with Saint Louis on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 PM.
