Baseball | April 5, 2018
PHILADELPHIA – Following back-to-back wins, the La Salle University baseball team will head to Piscataway, N.J., to begin a three-game series at Rutgers this weekend.
HOW TO FOLLOW
La Salle (7-19) at Rutgers (15-10)
Piscataway, N.J.
Friday – 3 p.m. |
LIVE STATS |
WATCH
Saturday – 1 p.m. |
LIVE STATS |
WATCH
Sunday – 1 p.m. |
LIVE STATS |
WATCH
Twitter:
@LaSalleBase #LaSalleBASE
FRESHMEN PLAY KEY ROLE IN WIN AT RIDER
La Salle overcame a four-run deficit and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning to defeat Rider on the road, 8-7, in the Liberty Bell Classic on Wednesday. Freshman
Tommy Toal and junior
Ben Faso combined for six hits, four runs and four RBI in the win. Trailing 4-0 after two innings, the Explorers fought back, and junior
Brett Simon drove in senior
Austin Constantini on a sacrifice fly in the ninth to put La Salle ahead.
Toal and fellow freshmen
Jack Cucinotta and
Manny Garcia played a key role in the victory, combining for six hits and four runs. In the fourth inning, Toal drove in Garcia and Cucinotta to give the Explorers their first lead of the game. Rookies
James Kelly and
Colin Scanlon also made an impact, escaping jams in the fourth and sixth innings to preserve La Salle's lead. Redshirt junior
Greg Paprocki didn't give up a single hit over three innings to start the game, while sophomore
Sebastian Martinez and Constantini kept Rider scoreless over the final two frames to preserve the victory.
FASO CONTINUES TO PRODUCE, EXTENDS HITTING STREAK
Faso extended his hit streak to 13 consecutive games after going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI on Wednesday. This came after he drove in a career-high six runs, including a three-run homer, in Saturday's 10-2 win over Saint Joseph's. The first baseman leads the team in nearly every major category, most notably with his .380 batting average, .509 slugging percentage and 24 RBI through 25 games. Faso's current hit streak ranks 12th in school history, and a hit on Friday would move him up to seventh.
STAT STUFFERS
The Explorers' offense has been consistently producing this season. La Salle is second in the Atlantic 10 Conference in hits with 251, averaging 9.6 per game. The Explorers also rank fifth in the league in both batting average (.266) and doubles (45), while they are sixth in home runs with 12. As for the pitching staff, they rank fourth in strikeouts per nine innings with an average of 8.4.
Faso and Constantini are among the league leaders in a number of different offensive categories. For Faso, his .380 average is second best in the A-10 and ranks 64th nationally, while he is also second in hits with 41, with his 1.64 hits per game good for 18th in the country. Faso is also third in the league in doubles (8) and fourth in RBI (24). Constantini is right behind Faso in third in both average (.358) and hits (39), and his 1.50 hits per game rank 61st nationally. He is also fourth in the A-10 with a .438 on-base percentage and is the fifth toughest to strike out in the nation, going 21.8 at-bats per strikeout. Meanwhile, freshman
Colin Kennedy is eighth in the conference with 9.96 strikeouts per game.
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers enters the weekend at 15-10 overall, 4-2 in the Big Ten and 3-3 at home. The Scarlet Knights took the first two games of their last series at Michigan State before being shutout, 6-0, in the final game. Rutgers is 3-4 against ranked opponents, including a win at Miami (Fla.) and two wins at Florida Gulf Coast. The only mutual opponent between the Scarlet Knights and Explorers is Wagner, which Rutgers defeated, 11-4.
The Scarlet Knights have four players hitting over .300 for the season led by Kyle Walker, whose batting .369 and owns a .463 on-base percentage. Carmen Sclafini is hitting .353 with a .500 slugging percentage, while Luke Bowerbank is batting .337 with 19 runs and 17 RBI. Harry Rutkowski (4-0), who will likely pitch Saturday, leads the Scarlet Knights on the mound with a 3.92 ERA and 36 strikeouts. John O'Reilly (3-1), Friday's probable starter, has a 4.60 ERA with 24 strikeouts.
