BETHESDA, Md. – Despite scoring five unanswered runs, the La Salle University baseball team could not overcome Georgetown's eight-run first inning, falling 8-5 on the road on Wednesday.
 
Senior Austin Constantini went 3-for-4 with an RBI double, a run and a walk. Freshman Tommy Toal was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while senior Chase Arnold went 2-for-5 and drove in a run.
 
The Hoyas scored all eight of their runs in the first inning. From there, La Salle relievers kept Georgetown scoreless, while the Explorers' offense slowly chipped away at the deficit.
 
La Salle cut Georgetown's lead in half in the third inning with four runs on six hits.
 
Constantini started it off with an RBI double down the right field line that scored sophomore Dylan Evans. Toal followed with an RBI single to score junior Brett Simon, and then junior Ben Faso drove in Constantini in the next at-bat. Arnold capped off the third with an RBI single to bring in Toal, making it 8-4.
 
The Explorers made it a three-run game in the fifth when junior Peyton Sorrels drove home senior Brian Dudeck, but Arnold was thrown out at the plate trying to cut the lead to two. La Salle had a chance to do damage in the sixth with the first two batters reaching base, but nothing came of it.
 
Freshman Alexarmando Diaz was handed the loss in his first career start, while Connor Hinchliffe threw 2.1 scoreless innings and Nick Mancuso fired two shutout frames.
 
La Salle will return home to host Atlantic 10 leader Saint Louis this weekend. The three-game series is scheduled to begin with the Spring Tailgate Series on Friday at 3 p.m.