Box Score
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PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle baseball team led Villanova 3-1, but the Wildcats scored the last four runs of the ballgame and defeated the Explorers, 5-3, on Tuesday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field. The game marked the first of the annual Liberty Bell Classic tournament between Philadelphia-area schools.

Mark Williams (1-4, run) led off the second inning with a double deep in the left center gap and was driven in by a Justin Korenblatt (2-3, RBI, run) triple. Mark Welling picked up an RBI on a groundout to the shortstop, scoring Korenblatt from third and opening up a 2-0 La Salle lead.

Villanova pushed a run across in the top of the fourth but the Explorers got the run back in the bottom of the frame. Kevin Conroy (1-3) led the inning off with a double to left center and advanced to third on an infield single from Korenblatt. Conroy eventually touched home when George Smith, Jr. (1-3, RBI, BB) plated him from third on an infield single.

Williams (0-1) started his first career game on the hill for the Explorers and worked four solid innings before encountering problems in the fifth.  He was charged with three runs in the frame, closing his line at 4.1 IP with four earned runs while striking out three.

Joey Ravert worked 1.1 innings in relief and surrendered an earned run, facing seven hitters. After Ravert, Dominic Sgroi (1.1 IP), Alec Baum (.2 IP), Luke Reilly (.1 IP), and Collin McGowan (1 IP) kept the Blue and Gold in the ballgame, combining to spin 3.1 innings of shutout ball.

La Salle threatened in the eighth and ninth innings, producing five baserunners, but the Wildcats bullpen was able to tame the Explorer bats in the high-leverage situations, cementing the 5-3 win.

The Explorers will host Richmond on Thursday at 3 PM in the first of a three game A-10 series.

NOTES: Korenblatt is 8-for-14 in his last five games, raising his season average to a team-high .357…La Salle did not commit a fielding error on Tuesday for the fourth time in its last five games