May 18, 2011
SAINT LOUIS, MO - After a long day of travel and a spirited practice, the La Salle baseball team will begin a crucial three-game series against Saint Louis on Thursday evening at the Billiken Sports Center.
The Explorers (26-22, 12-9) are right on the cusp of clinching a berth in the Atlantic 10 postseason but will need to tidy things up this weekend against a fiesty Saint Louis club looking to play spoiler.
The series, which was originally scheduled to be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, has already been changed due to impending weather heading into the midwest region.
Thrusday's series opener, originally scheduled for 8 p.m. eastern time has already been moved up to 7 p.m. to accomodate Friday's doubleheader, which will begin at 1 p.m. eastern. Saturday's series finale has already been moved to Friday and will be played 30 minutes after the first conclusion of game one.
With six teams still in contention for the final four spots in the Atlantic 10 postseason, La Salle theoretically needs two victories this week to clinch a spot in the tournament. However, there is a scenario that could see La Salle winning two games and still not making the field of six based on tiebreaker scenarios.
For that "disaster" scenario to take place, St. Bonventure would have to sweep UMass at home this weekend, in addition to Richmond and Xavier winning two games in their series and the Explorers also winning two games.
If that scenario were to occur, all four of those teams would be 14-10 in A-10 play, with only three of them earning bids to the conference tournament. It is still undetermined which of those four teams would be left out of the A-10 tournament as the tiebreakers will not be decided until play concludes on Saturday.
Dayton is also a wild card but have the advantage of a one game lead on most of the field as the Flyers sit 13-8 in the conference.
If the Explorers sweep the Billikens and finish 15-9 in A-10 play, there is no possible scenario that would have them out of the field of six.
Simply put, a series victory against Saint Louis would put La Salle in a dominating position to make the postseason, a sweep and the Explorers could finish as high as the No. 3 seed and only one or no victories this weekend will most likely mean the season will end for the blue and gold.
Kevin Fuqua (5-4, 3.03) will start game one for La Salle on Thursday with Eric Van Wyk (3-2, 3.18) getting the nod in game two on Friday afternoon. The starter for game two of Friday's doubleheader is still too be determined.
All three games this weekend, weather permitting, will be streamed live on the La Salle Radio Network with Jared Smith on for the call. Click here to listen live.
