Baseball | April 17, 2018

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle University baseball team will remain in Philadelphia this week for a pair of Big 5 matchups, as the Explorers visit Penn on Tuesday before hosting Villanova at Hank DeVincent Field on Wednesday.

HOW TO FOLLOW
La Salle (10-23, 2-7 A-10) at Penn (10-19-1, 5-6-1 IVY)
Philadelphia, Pa. – Meiklejohn Stadium
Tuesday – 3:30 p.m. | LIVE STATS | WATCH

La Salle vs. Villanova (6-22, 0-6 Big East)
Hank DeVincent Field
Wednesday – 3 p.m. | LIVE STATS | WATCH

Twitter: @LaSalleBase   #LaSalleBASE

COMEBACK KIDS
La Salle scored five unanswered runs and overcame a four-run deficit to defeat Fordham at home on Friday, 6-5. Senior Chase Arnold homered and drove in three runs down the stretch to propel the Explorers past the Rams for their second consecutive comeback victory. It was La Salle's fifth come-from-behind win of the season. La Salle faced early deficits again in a doubleheader on Saturday but came up just short in its comeback bids, 4-3 and 12-8. Sophomore Dylan Evans and senior Yan Carlo Rivera both went deep in the final game. With the victory on Friday, the Explorers have already matched their 2017 win total with 20 regular season games remaining.

STAT STUFFERS
The Explorers are 5-4 in their last nine games, including three wins at home. They are sixth in the Atlantic 10 Conference in hits with 304 on the season, averaging over nine hits per game. On the mound, La Salle is sixth in both shutouts (2) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.2).

Junior Ben Faso ranks second in the A-10 with 1.50 hits per game, good for 55th in the nation. He is also third in the league in batting average (.356) and hits (48). Senior Austin Constantini is the eighth toughest to strike out in the nation, leading the A-10 with a 19.3 at-bats per strikeout average. The shortstop is also sixth in the A-10 in hits (45) and is ninth with a .415 on-base percentage. Sophomore Matt Holt is seventh in the league with a 4.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while freshman Colin Kennedy ranks sixth in strikeouts per nine innings with a 10.16 average.

SCOUTING THE QUAKERS
Penn enters the matchup with a 10-19-1 record after taking two of three games from Princeton over the weekend. The Quakers are 5-6-1 in the Ivy League and own a 1-1-1 mark at home. Sean Phelan leads the team with a .312 batting average and a .418 on-base percentage, while Matt McGeagh has five homers and 26 RBIs. The Quakers have a team ERA of 4.66 led by Brendan Bean's 0.60 mark.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Villanova enters the week having lost three in a row and eight of its last nine games after being swept by Butler over the weekend. After a 3-0 start, the Wildcats have gone 3-22 since but have had some road success with a 5-5 away record. David Gulati leads the team on offense with a .307 average and 25 runs scored. Ryan Toohers follows with a .293 average and 19 RBIs. Ryan Doty is the Wildcats top starting pitcher with a 4.22 ERA and 46 strikeouts over 49 innings.