March 2, 2011
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Junior Jon Gyles connected on an opposite-field grand slam in the eighth inning to cap off a seven-run rally and propel La Salle past Lafayette 12-5 on a brisk Wednesday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field.
“All the little things happened and then Jon [Gyles] came in and got the big hit to blow the game open,” said head coach Mike Lake. “That’s just what we needed.”
With the game tied at 5-5 heading into the home half of the eighth, redshirt junior Zach Feierstein came off the bench and ripped a lead-off single to start the rally for La Salle.
After another single by junior Tony Negrin put runners on the corners, a pair of errors by Lafayette shortstop Brian Davila gave La Salle the lead.
Two batters later with the sacks packed, Gyles connected on his second home run of the season, a towering fly ball over the right field wall, to put the game out of reach.
“Those were big hits by Gyles and Feierstein,” Lake added.
The Explorers (4-2) jumped out to the early advantage and pushed across four runs in the first inning off Lafayette starter Kevin Casey.
“We jumped out to a nice lead, put the ball in play and then all of a sudden we stopped being aggressive and we ran ourselves out of a few innings,” Lake said.
|The Leopards (0-4) began to chip away in the middle innings and scored two runs each in the fourth and fifth to level the game at 5-5.
With the go-ahead run in scoring position in the top of the eighth, Lake called upon junior reliever Kevin Christy to slam the door. The right-hander got the final two outs of the inning, leaving the go-ahead runner stranded at third and set the table for the Explorer rally in the bottom half of the frame.
Christy (1-0) needed only two outs to record his first victory of the season and improved to 5-9 overall in his career.
Freshman Dominic Sgroi got the start for the Explorers and lasted four innings. The left-hander allowed three runs (one earned) off six hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Sophomore Shane Petrellis also pitched solid in relief and went 3.1 innings. Petrellis allowed two runs (one earned) with two walks and two punch-outs.
Sophomore closer Pat Christensen came in and threw a perfect ninth to preserve the victory.
“We told Pat we were going to give him some work,” said Lake. “He had the ninth inning no matter what the score was.”
The Explorers will now set sail on an eight-game spring break road trip beginning this Friday against Duke at the Durham Athletic Park. The three-game series against the Blue Devils will be followed by a two-game mid-week set at Appalachian State and then finally a three-game series next weekend at Morehead State to close out the trip.
