BRONX, N.Y. – La Salle returns to Atlantic 10 action for the first time in two weeks with a three-game visit to Fordham beginning on Friday. With rain in the forecast for Sunday, the schedule has been altered and the teams will now play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 PM.   

Pitching Matchups

LHP Eric Van Wyk (3-4, 3.45) vs. Daniel Munday (2-3, 4.98)
LHP Ryan Donahue (1-1, 2.62) vs. Chris Pike (3-1, 4.94)
RHP Kevin Christy (1-2, 2.77)  vs. Joseph Charest (3-6, 4.62)

Scouting the Explorers (16-20, 3-6 A-10)

La Salle will look to get back on track this weekend in a visit to the Bronx. The Explorers have received outstanding starting pitching, especially on the weekends, and look to get the bats going to move up in the A-10 standings.

Van Wyk, Donahue and Christy have combined to form one of the most balanced weekend rotations in the conference. Combined the three have an ERA of 3.00.

Van Wyk is tied for fifth all-time in wins at La Salle with 13 and is sixth in strikeouts with 160. Christy is just out of the top 10 in wins and moved into third place all-time with his 200^th strikeout at San Diego. He needs 23 to set the La Salle all-time record. The North Penn graduate also ranks sixth in the league in ERA is second in strikeouts.

Offensively, senior Jeff Flax is batting .326. Sophomore George Smith, Jr. (.298), junior Dan Klem (.295) and junior Joe Bennie (.290) are also nearing the .300 plateau.

Senior Brendan Norton, the nation's leader in walks, hit a triple versus Villanova on Wednesday to move into sixth on the all-time list for three-baggers.

Scouting the Rams (15-24, 7-5 A-10)

Fordham has struggled a bit in non-conference play but are in a tie for fifth place in the A-10 standings with a 7-5 record. The Rams swept Temple and took two of three from St. Bonaventure for five of their A-10 wins.

Fordham has struggled offensively, batting .245 as a team with one player batting over .300 in Mike Mauri at .310. Ryan Maghini has five home runs and 20 RBI.

Chris Pike leads the pitching staff and will get the ball in game two. He is 3-1 with a 4.94 ERA. Closer Jeremy Adel is 3-2 with a 1.99 ERA and five saves and Rich Anastasi has been a quality reliever with a 2.97 ERA in 20 appearances.

The Rams have dropped six of seven with the only victory being a 9-8 win at Dayton last Sunday. Head Coach Kevin Leighton is in his first season in the Bronx after a successful six-year stint at Manhattan.

Live Coverage

Live statistics will be available for all three games on the GoExplorers.com website. Sign up for text alerts at www.goexplorers.com/textalerts to receive scores at the conclusion of all games.