Baseball | March 22, 2018

PHILADELPHIA – After picking up its first home victory of the season on Sunday, the La Salle University baseball team returns to the road, traveling to Arlington, Va., to start Atlantic 10 Conference play at George Washington for a three-game weekend series beginning on Friday.

HOW TO FOLLOW
La Salle (5-13, 0-0 A-10) at George Washington (9-11, 0-0 A-10)
Arlington, Va.
Friday – 3 p.m. | LIVE STATS
Saturday – 1 p.m. | LIVE STATS
Sunday – 12 p.m. | LIVE STATS

Twitter: @LaSalleBase   #LaSalleBASE

RAY SHINES IN SHUTOUT WIN
Sophomore left-hander Jackson Ray guided the Explorers to their first shutout and first home win of the season on Sunday, 2-0 over Sacred Heart. He threw 6.2 scoreless innings, scattering just two hits while striking out five. The lefty took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Fellow sophomore Matt Holt entered in relief, quickly piling up three strikeouts and keeping the Pioneers hitless over 1.1 innings of work. Junior C.J. Pruitt then closed out the win in the ninth to earn his first save of the season. In total, the trio gave up just three hits in a combined shutout performance.

BACK IN THE NORTHEAST
La Salle finally returned to the Northeast last week following 14 straight road games, with trips to four different states – South Carolina, Maryland, Kansas and Missouri. The Explorers capped off the road stretch in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they challenged Fairleigh Dickinson at MCU Park. Despite erasing a six-run deficit to force extra innings, La Salle fell to the Knights in 13 innings.

The Explorers opened their home schedule with games against Manhattan, Wagner and Sacred Heart at Hank DeVincent Field over the weekend. Against Manhattan on Friday, La Salle led 3-0 early and sophomore Ryan Guckin homered, but the Jaspers' offense caught fire and dealt the Explorers an 11-6 defeat. On Sunday against Wagner, La Salle led 2-1 after three innings before the Seahawks totaled 11 runs in the fourth and fifth innings to capture a 15-3 win over the home Explorers. La Salle bounced back on Sunday, taking down Sacred Heart, 2-0, behind Ray's dominant effort on the mound. Junior Ben Faso went 3-for-3 with an RBI in the win, while freshman Manny Garcia was 2-for-2 with a run.

STAT STUFFERS
Through the first 18 games of the season, La Salle ranks third in the Atlantic 10 in hits with 181, averaging over 10 hits per game. The Explorers are also fourth in the league in doubles (31), fifth in batting average (.268) and home runs (8), while they are sixth in scoring with 5.4 runs per contest and walks (72). Meanwhile, the La Salle pitching staff is fourth in the A-10 with 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

Faso is second in the conference in hits with 28 on the season, and his 1.65 hits per game average ranks him 32nd in the nation. The junior first baseman is also third in the league with a .378 batting average, while senior Austin Constantini (.338) is eighth. Constantini also remains the A-10's toughest batter to strike out, as his 19.3 at-bats per strikeout average ranks 17th nationally. Senior Chase Arnold is second in the league with three sacrifice flies and is tied for fourth with three homers. On the mound, freshman Colin Kennedy is seventh in the A-10 with 10.61 strikeouts per nine innings.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
George Washington enters the weekend series on a two-game winning streak after taking the final two games of a three-game set with VMI this past weekend. The Colonials have had success on their home field already early in the season as they own an 8-2 home record. GW is second in the A-10 with 13 home runs on the season, while the Colonials are fifth in runs (103), hits (175) and slugging percentage (.372).

Mark Osis leads the GW offense in most categories, with a .364 batting average, three homers and 17 RBI in 20 games. Isaiah Pasteur has scored a team-high 16 runs and has stolen eight bases, while he also provides power with three homers and a .463 slugging percentage. On the mound, Nathan Woods (1-2) has done the heavy lifting with a 2.12 ERA and 19 strikeouts in five starts. Additionally, Elliott Raimo (1-2) owns a 2.55 ERA with 21 strikeouts in four starts, and Jaret Edwards (1-0) has a 2.66 ERA with 16 strikeouts.