Baseball | April 9, 2018

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle University baseball team will begin a four-game homestand on Tuesday when the Explorers host Delaware State at Hank DeVincent Field.

HOW TO FOLLOW
La Salle (8-21, 1-5 A-10) vs. Delaware State (5-25, 3-9 MEAC)
Hank DeVincent Field
Tuesday – 3 p.m. | LIVE STATS

Twitter: @LaSalleBase   #LaSalleBASE

RAY AND FASO TAKE BIG 5 WEEKLY HONORS
Sophomore Jackson Ray and junior Ben Faso took home Philadelphia Big 5 weekly accolades on Monday. Ray was named Pitcher of the Week, while Faso garnered Player of the Week status. Ray threw 6.1 scoreless innings while surrendering just one hit with three strikeouts in a 1-0 shutout victory at Rutgers on Saturday. Faso hit .471 with four RBIs and two runs for the week and drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning of Saturday's win over the Scarlet Knights.

FASO KEEPS HIT STREAK ALIVE
Faso enters the week on a 16-game hitting streak, a stretch that began back on March 10 at Missouri. His streak is the fifth longest in program history, joining Brendan Norton, who hit safely in 16 consecutive games during the 2010 season. Faso is eight away from the program record of 24 games held by John Malloy (2007) and Jeff Flax (2011).

EXPLORERS SPLIT IN NEW JERSEY
La Salle won two of its four road games in the Garden State last week. The Explorers overcame a four-run deficit and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning to defeat Rider on Wednesday. Then La Salle won the second game of a three-game series at Rutgers over the weekend. Ray and sophomore Matt Holt combined for a one-hit shutout to guide La Salle to a 1-0 win over the Scarlet Knights on Saturday, with Faso providing the go-ahead hit to score senior Austin Constantini in the ninth. Rutgers took game one, 11-1, and game three, 11-3.

STAT STUFFERS
The Explorers rank fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference in hits with 267 for the season, an average of over nine hits per game. On the mound, La Salle is fifth in both shutouts (2) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.3).

Faso leads the A-10 with 1.64 hits per game, which ranks 15th in the nation, and he is tied for the league lead with 46 hits. He is also second in batting average (.380), fifth in RBIs (26) and eighth in slugging percentage (.496). Constantini remains the toughest to strike out in the A-10 with a 19.8 at-bat per strikeout average. The shortstop is also sixth in the A-10 in hits (41) and on-base percentage (.433), while ranking eighth in batting average (.345). Holt is sixth in the league with a 4.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and freshman Colin Kennedy is ninth in strikeouts per nine innings with a 10.02 average.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS
Delaware State enters Tuesday's contest at 5-25 overall, 3-9 in the MEAC and 4-10 on the road. After starting 2-2, the Hornets lost their next 20 games but have won three of their last six games since. Delaware State took two of three games from Norfolk State in its most recent series, including a 4-3 win the last time out.

Darnel Maisonet leads the Hornets on the mound and at the plate. He has a .338 batting average with 16 runs in addition to a 3.60 ERA and 1-2 record on the hill. Miguel Rivera has also scored 16 runs to go with a .290 average, while Cole Garey leads the team with 23 RBIs.