Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – La Salle's bats came alive on Wednesday afternoon at Meiklejohn Stadium, tying a season-high in runs during an 11-4 victory at Penn in non-conference action. Three Explorers had multiple hits, led by sophomore George Smith, Jr., who singled, doubled and drove in four in the win.

Junior Dan Klem had a pair of singles and drove in three for his team-best seventh multi-RBI game of the season, while senior Jeff Flax had two hits and drove in two.

The Blue and Gold benefited from nine walks and four hit batsmen from the UP pitching staff.

Seven La Salle (16-16) pitchers saw time on the mound, with freshman Mike McLeod picking up the win (3-0) by throwing 1.2 innings without allowing an earned run. Junior Pat Christensen recorded his Atlantic 10 leading eighth save of the season by recording the final five outs, three by strikeout.

Freshman Adam Cherry also threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.

All 11 Explorer runs came after the fifth inning after the visitors trailed 3-0. La Salle got on the board with two in the frame on a bases-loaded hit by pitch to freshmen Justin Korenblatt followed by a bases-loaded walk to Flax.

Penn walked two and hit two in the inning and was fortunate to get out of a bases-loaded jam with only two runs crossing the plate. The Quakers (14-13) responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-2 before the Explorers opened up a 6-4 lead with a four-spot in the sixth.

Three walks to senior Marc Schoch, junior Joe Bennie, and senior Adam Kammler sandwiched a sacrifice bunt to load the bases for Klem. The Allentown, Pa. native came through with a two-run single and Smith followed with a RBI fielder's choice. Korenblatt then doubled home a run to give La Salle a two-run advantage.

Two runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Smith and Flax made it 8-4 and a three-run ninth blew the game open. Klem had an RBI single and Smith blasted a two-run double in the final frame.

Bennie scored three runs while senior Brendan Norton walked to extend his on-base streak to 13 games. He has reached base in 31 of 32 games this season.

Ryan Deitrich had three doubles for Penn. Ronnie Glenn (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing two earned runs in 1.2 innings.

The Explorers will travel to San Diego for a three-game non-conference series beginning Friday. USD is ranked 19^th by Collegiate Baseball and 20^th by Baseball America, marking the seventh straight season that Toreros have been nationally ranked.

All three games at USD will have live statistics and free video streaming.