May 31, 2011

PHILADELPHIA, PA – La Salle was named the Philadelphia Big 5 Baseball Team of the Year for the second straight season, it was announced today in voting conducted by the city head coaches and sports information offices. Head Coach Mike Lake also was named the Big 5 Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Lake helped lead the team 28 wins in 2011, the second most victories in team history behind the 31 victories recorded in 1985. La Salle also made its second straight visit to the Atlantic 10 Championship behind a 13-11 finish in conference play.

The A-10 schedule for La Salle included sweeps over city-rival Temple and George Washington and a road series victory against St. Bonaventure. The Explorers also recorded a program-best nine-game winning streak that spanned for a large chunk of March.

After a season that saw him pass many of the great pitchers in La Salle baseball history, Kevin Fuqua continued to rack up the postseason accolades and was named the Big 5 Pitcher of the Year.

During his four-year career at La Salle, Fuqua has pitched the most innings (331.0) tallied the most strikeouts (222) and has recorded the most starts (46) in program history. In 2011, the right-hander went 6-4 with a 2.92 ERA and logged a team-best 104.2 innings pitched, the most by any pitcher in one season at La Salle in school history.

Also earning All-Big 5 honors was second baseman Jeff Flax, designated hitter Marc Schoch and closer Pat Christensen.

Christensen had the most impressive season on record for any La Salle closer in the history of the program, besting his own single-season saves record that he set a season ago with 13 on the season. The sophomore also tallied a 1.17 ERA and made 28 appearances out of the bullpen with just five walks in 38.1 innings pitched. The La Jolla, CA native was also awarded Co-Student Athlete of the Year alongside Villanova’s Dain Hall. The Business major boasts a 3.60 ERA and is poised to graduate ahead of schedule.

Flax tied a school record with a 24-game hitting streak earlier this season that lasted most of March and into early April. The junior started all 54 games for the Explorers at second base and led the team with a .318 batting average and 70 hits with 33 RBI.

Schoch proved worthy of his cleanup status, leading La Salle in home runs (4), RBI (33) and slugging percentage (.448). The junior also split time with Zach Feierstein at the catcher position and provided valuable depth at the backstop.