April 6, 2011
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA – A gritty effort by Villanova eliminated the La Salle baseball team from the 2011 Liberty Bell Classic with a 9-7 win on Wednesday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field.
The Explorers (15-13) held two-run leads in both the fifth and seventh innings but Villanova was able to erase the deficits on both occasions to stave off elimination.
Villanova will take on the winner between Lehigh and Delaware in the championship game of the Liberty Bell Classic next Tuesday, April 12 at Citizen’s Bank Park.
La Salle’s offense got on the board in the fourth inning with RBI’s from Joe Bennie and Eric Kammler that put the Explorers on top 2-0.
The Wildcats (13-15) answered with consecutive run-scoring innings in the fifth and sixth to take a 4-2 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, La Salle received some offensive pop from Zack Feierstein and Eric Kammler who each went yard to leapfrog the Explorers back on top. Feierstein’s shot was a solo blast to lead off the inning.
Kammler followed two batters later with a two-run blast that put La Salle in front 5-4. The first baseman finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored.
After a Brendan Norton double later in the inning, Dan Klem capped off the four-run sixth for the Explorers with a bloop RBI double that plated Norton and gave La Salle a 6-4 lead.
Villanova answered in the seventh with three runs of their own to retake the lead 7-6. In the eighth, the Wildcats added an insurance to make the score 8-6.
La Salle answered with a run in the bottom half of the eighth off a George Smith Jr. RBI double. However, with less than two outs and Smith, the tying run, at third, a pair of Explorer strikeouts stranded the outfielder and kept Villanova in front.
David Koczirka gave the Wildcats a much-needed insurance run in the ninth with a solo home run off La Salle closer Pat Christensen.
Villanova closer Mike Francisco came on in relief and pitched the final 1.2 innings to earn his eighth save of the season.
La Salle will have Thursday off before traveling to Ambler for a three-game series against Big 5 and A-10 rival Temple this weekend. Friday’s game against the Owls will begin at 3 p.m.
