PHILADELPHIA – Despite jumping out to a 3-0 lead and accumulating 14 hits, the La Salle University baseball team gave up 12 runs in the second inning and fell to cross-city rival Penn, 17-7, on the road Tuesday.
 
Five different Explorers posted multi-hit games led by sophomore Ryan Guckin, who went 3-for-5.
 
The Explorers quickly went ahead in the top of the first inning, as their first three batters of the game reached base. Senior Austin Constantini scored on an RBI single by junior Ben Faso, and then senior Brian Dudeck drove in freshman Tommy Toal to give La Salle a 2-0 lead.
 
In the second inning, redshirt sophomore Dillon Malandro led off with a walk and later made his way to third base before scoring on an RBI single to left field by Toal, pushing the Explorers' lead to 3-0.
 
However, the Quakers went off for 12 runs on 10 hits and an error in the bottom of the second to suddenly take a commanding 12-3 advantage.
 
Malandro knocked in Faso on a single down the left field line in the third to cut the difference down to eight before Penn answered with a run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning. In the sixth, Malandro registered another RBI, scoring Guckin on a groundout.
 
But Penn put the game out of reach with four more runs in the seventh, stretching its lead to 12.
 
Guckin scored again in the eighth inning on an RBI single by junior Peyton Sorrels and then drove in Faso on an RBI single to left in the ninth for the game's final run. The three hits for Guckin were a career high, as he finished with two doubles, two runs and an RBI.
 
Constantini started on the mound, lasting 1.2 innings while striking out three, but went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Toal, Faso and Sorrels each recorded two hits apiece for the Explorers. Freshman Nick Mancuso was strong in relief, allowing just one run on three hits with four strikeouts over four innings of work.
 
La Salle (10-24) will return home for a clash with Villanova at Hank DeVincent Field on Wednesday at 3 p.m.