May 26, 2011
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
CAMDEN, NJ - After a thrilling day-one victory over Dayton, the Flyers returned the favor on day two, eliminating La Salle from the Atlantic 10 playoffs with a 10-5 victory on day two of action at Cambell's Field.
The loss marked the second of the day for the sixth-seeded Explorers (28-26), who fell out of the winner's bracket with a 7-4 setback against No. 2 Rhode Island earlier in the day.
"It was a fantastic season for our team," said head coach Mike Lake. "I'm real proud of our seniors, we would not have been able to make it this far without them."
La Salle will lose four seniors next season, the most tenured being redshirt Kevin Jones. The elder statesman on the Explorer roster has been a member of the program for five seasons.
In a touching moment after the conclusion of the Dayton game, Jones along with fellow seniors Kevin Fuqua, Chris Umstead and Zach Huff each had one final emotional message to their teammates during the Explorers' traditional post game meeting in right field.
A total of 13 juniors will return for their senior seasons, including all eight of the starting position players, two of the three starting pitchers and all three primary relievers.
As for Thursday's game action, things started rough for the Explorers who fell behind 5-0 after one inning in game one against Rhode Island.
Credit though to Eric Van Wyk, who turned in a gutsy complete game performance to keep La Salle in the game and keep the bullpen rested for the nightcap.
Despite trailing by as many as six runs, the Explorers cut the lead to 7-4 in the seventh, but couldn't draw any closer and were relegated to the loser's bracket game against Dayton.
La Salle got off to a good start against the Flyers, scoring three runs in the first. Dayton climbed back in it with timely hits off La Salle starter Cody Weiss, who pitched 6.2 innings and suffered his sixth loss of the season.
With the game tied 4-4 in the seventh, Weiss got the first two batters of the inning, but a walk to lead off man Brian Blasik followed by an RBI double by Bobby Glover leapfrogged Dayton in front 5-4.
The next batter, C.J. Gillman, gave the Flyers breathing room with a two-run home run off reliever Dominic Sgroi to make it 7-4.
After three more insurance runs for Dayton in the ninth, Marc Schoch ended the scoring for La Salle with an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning.
Check back on GoExplorers.com later this summer for updates on the La Salle baseball team and a full season highlight video.
