AMHERST, Mass. – The Explorers scored three runs in the eighth inning to break a 2-2 tie, as the La Salle University baseball team held off Massachusetts for a 5-4 road victory in Atlantic 10 action on Saturday. The Minutemen scored twice in the ninth inning and looked for their second straight walk-off win, but the Explorers hung on to even the series at 1-1.
After winning in the bottom of the ninth on Friday, the Minutemen threatened again in the final inning on Saturday. They scored twice with two outs and had the bases loaded, but sophomore
Matt Holt got the final batter to pop up to close the door.
Both teams started slowly, as starting pitchers
Colin Kennedy and Sean Harney kept the offenses in check. Massachusetts scored on a triple in the first inning, but after that, there was no scoring until the fifth.
Senior
Austin Constantini jump-started the La Salle offense in the fifth with a two-RBI double that brought in freshman
Jack Cucinotta and senior
Yan Carlo Rivera, giving the Explorers a 2-1 lead.
The Minutemen scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, however, to tie the game at two apiece.
The Explorers broke the tie in the eighth, scoring three runs on four hits to go on top. Freshman
Tommy Toal was hit by pitch, worked his way around the bases and then scored on an RBI single by senior
Brian Dudeck. Two batters later, sophomore
Ryan Guckin drove home Dudeck, and junior
Brian Tagoe ripped a single to right field to score junior
Peyton Sorrels, giving La Salle a 5-2 advantage.
Kennedy matched his career high by going six innings, allowing only two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Junior
Mike Anthony (3-1) gave up only one hit over 2.2 innings of relief before running into trouble in the ninth. UMass scored on a hit by pitch and a wild pitch in the ninth before Holt closed out the win for his first career save.
Rivera went 2-for-4 with a run, while Cucinotta was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run. Nine different Explorers had a hit in the game.
La Salle (12-25, 3-8 A-10) will aim for its first series win of the season when the Explorers close out the three-game set with the Minutemen on Sunday at 12 p.m.
