Baseball | February 21, 2019
PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle University baseball team's three-game series at Furman, originally scheduled for this weekend, has been cancelled due to inclement weather and has been replaced by a home series against Rider. The Explorers will now host the Broncs for three games starting on Friday.
SERIES INFO
- Game 1: Friday – 2:30 p.m. | Holt vs. Soporowski | LIVE STATS
- Game 2: Saturday – 1:30 p.m. | Ray vs. Vitacco | LIVE STATS
- Game 3: Sunday – 1 p.m. | Frye vs. Papeo | LIVE STATS
HOLT STARTS SEASON WITH BIG 5 HONORS
- Junior right-handed pitcher Matt Holt began the season with Philadelphia Big 5 Co-Pitcher of the Week honors on Tuesday after a lights-out showing in the Explorers' season-opening win.
- Holt (1-0) picked up the win after matching a career high with eight strikeouts while allowing only one run on five hits with no walks over six innings.
EXPLORERS OPEN 2019 WITH SERIES WIN
- In the opening game of the season at Charleston Southern, Holt anchored the Explorers on the mound and senior Ben Faso hit a three-run homer to lead La Salle to a 6-3 opening-day victory. The Explorers scored four runs in the sixth inning and two more in the ninth to snag the road win.
- La Salle fell behind 4-0 after three innings in game two, which proved to be too much to overcome in a 7-3 setback on Saturday.
- The Explorers responded on Sunday, however, overcoming a 3-0 deficit and turning it into a 5-4 victory to win their first series of the season. Freshman Nick O'Day hit his first career homer and joined Faso, Kevin McGowan and Matt Rivera with multi-hit games. Senior Mike Anthony earned the win, while Connor Hinchliffe, who was tabbed Philadelphia Baseball Review Reliever of the Week, notched his second save of the weekend.
SCOUTING RIDER
- The Broncs started the year off by taking 1-of-3 games from Butler down in South Carolina over the weekend. They won the first game, 9-4, before dropping game two, 14-3, and the finale, 9-2.
- Riley Mihalik was named MAAC Player of the Week after hitting .455 with three home runs and eight RBIs against Butler. Brennan McAllister also hit .417 over the weekend and scored a pair of runs for the Broncs.
- Pete Soporowski (2.25 ERA) made the opening-day start on the mound for Rider and gave up one run on four hits with five strikeouts over four innings. Zach Gakeler tossed 2.1 innings of relief with four strikeouts in the victory as well. Vincent Vitacco (0-1, 7.20 ERA) and Joe Papeo (4.50 ERA) got the starts in games two and three.
