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PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle baseball team remains at home to wrap up a five-game homestand with games against Big 5 rivals Villanova and Temple on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. First pitch is 3:15 PM on Tuesday and 3:00 PM on Wednesday.

Scouting the Explorers (10-8)

La Salle has won four straight and five of its past six games to improve to 10-8. Two of the Blue and Gold's wins this weekend were of the walk-off variety as senior Brendan Norton provided the 11th inning heroics over Saint Peter's and Buffalo on consecutive days. He reached base 14 of 21 plate appearances and batted .462 during the week to raise his average to .323. He was named the GoExplorers.com Athlete of the Week for his performance.

Junior closer Pat Christensen also picked up a pair of awards from the Atlantic 10 and Philadelphia Big 5 as their Pitcher of the Week. He won two games and saved another while striking out seven in six innings. The La Jolla, Calif. native has 28 career saves, one short of tying the La Salle all-time record held by Gerard Breslin from 2004-07.

Sophomore George Smith, Jr. continues to lead the team in batting average (.354), one of five regulars batting over .300 for head coach Mike Lake. Senior Jeff Flax is batting .333, followed by senior Marc Schoch (.329), Norton (.323) and junior Joe Bennie (.308). Bennie has three home runs, good for fifth in the Atlantic 10.

Junior Ryan Donahue (0-0, 3.00 ERA) is slated to earn the start for the Explorers on Tuesday vs. Villanova. Wednesday's starter is TBA.

La Salle is a perfect 4-0 at home this season.

Scouting the Wildcats (13-7)

Villanova also comes into the contest after a walk-off win as Tyler Sciacca, the BIg 5 Player of the Week, singled home the game-winning run in the ninth inning to beat Buffalo, 5-4. The Wildcats have also won four of their last five, with the only loss coming to Binghamton, 13-10, on Saturday. 

VU is batting .323 as a team, led by Matt Fleischman's .455. The senior also has three homers and 19 RBI. Sciacca is batting .434 with a team-best 22 RBI, while Kevin Wager comes in at .381.

VIllanova will also host a Big 5 rival on Wednesday in Penn. VU is 4-3 on the road this season.

Scouting the Owls (9-11)

Under first year head coach Ryan Wheeler, the Owls have won four of five. La Salle defeated Temple, 9-7, last Tuesday at Skip Wilson Field in Ambler.

Connor Reilly, a member of Temple's football team, is batting .333 with two homers and 12 RBI while Jordan Queja and fifth-year senior Steve Nikorak are tied at .329. Nikorak has eight doubles and is TU's all-time leader in that category.

The Owls are 4-8 away from home this spring. 

Next up:

La Salle will begin Atlantic 10 play on Friday with a three-game set at George Washington.