Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Penn scored four runs in the second inning and never looked back in defeating La Salle, 9-4, in the Liberty Bell Classic semifinals on Tuesday at Hank DeVincent Field.  Senior March Schoch and junior Joe Bennie each had a pair of hits for the Explorers.

The Quakers strung together a double, three singles and a walk to plate four in the second. La Salle (15-13) drew within two at 4-2 on sophomore George Smith, Jr.'s two-run home run to right in the fifth, but it would be as close as the hosts would get.

UP (12-10) tacked on a run in the sixth on Rick Brebner's solo home run to make it 5-2 and a two-run blast to left-center by Ryan Dietrich extended the advantage to 7-2. The Quakers added two runs in the ninth before La Salle used a two-out, two-run single by junior Dan Klem to finish off the scoring.

Freshman Mark Williams (1-1) suffered the loss after allowing four earned runs in two innings. Junior Shane Petrellis threw three innings of scoreless relief and freshman Adam Cherry tossed a perfect eight inning.

Dietrich had two doubles and a home run while driving in four for Penn. Greg Zebrack also had a pair of doubles.

Matt Gottschall (2-2) allowed two earned runs in 5.1 innings for the victory.

La Salle returns to action on Thursday to begin a three-game series at Massachusetts.

NOTES: La Salle's three-game series at San Diego next weekend has been changed. The Explorers will now play one game on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday's game will be at 3 PM Pacific (6 PM Eastern). Saturday and Sunday are set for 1 PM Pacific (4 PM Eastern).