Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, PA - A quintet of La Salle hurlers tossed a seven-hit shutout on Tuesday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field as the Explorers blanked Villanova 4-0 and extended their winning streak to a program-best eight games.

The historic victory is the first over the Wildcats since March 13, 2007 and improves the club's record to a perfect 7-0 at home. However more importantly, the victory marks the longest winning streak (eight games) in program history since the modern era of La Salle baseball began in 1986.

"I thought today was a very well pitched game on both sides," said head coach Mike Lake. "We got the timely hits when we needed them though."

The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning when a fielding error by Villanova allowed Brendan Norton to reach safely. Two batters later, Marc Schoch ripped a base hit up the middle, plating Norton and giving La Salle the 1-0 edge.

In the fifth, three more runs would come across for the Explorers (12-8) who received RBI singles from Schoch and Adam Kammler and also a sac fly by Jon Gyles.

On the mound, Dominic Sgroi started the game and lasted just three innings. The lefty allowed five hits and two walks with one strikeout.

"We only let Dom go about 50 pitches because we wanted to keep him fresh for the conference games this weekend," Lake said. "His arm is too valuable to not have him ready for the games that count in the A-10 standings."

Jerry Dougherty, Zach Huff, Kevin Christy and Pat Christensen followed Sgroi's lead and threw scoreless frames for the remainder of the ballgame to seal the win for La Salle. Huff (2-0) earned the win and struck out the side in the fifth inning.

Christensen stayed in his familiar role, pitching the eighth and ninth innings while allowing only one hit.

The conference season will begin for La Salle this Friday when a very hot Fordham team visits Hank DeVincent Field for a three-game series. More information will be posted later in the week regarding the Fordham series.