PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle University baseball team extended its winning streak to five games as the Explorers scored eight runs in the ninth inning and toppled Penn, 14-7, on the road Thursday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Senior Jack Cucinotta got ahold of the first pitch he saw in the first inning and sent it toward the Schuylkill Turnpike for a two-run home run and a quick lead for the Explorers.
• Penn evened the score in the second inning on a Craig Larsen homer, but the Explorers answered in the third with three runs.
• Sophomore Elijah Dickerson roped an RBI double down the left field line before graduate student Ryan Guckin delivered a two-run single through the left side to provide La Salle with a 5-2 advantage.
• After Penn got a run back, junior Tatem Levins hit an RBI single up the middle to make it a three-run game once more in the fourth inning, 6-3.
• The Quakers made things interesting in the sixth, loading the bases and scoring on a wild pitch to make it 6-4, but sophomore Dylan Maria worked his way out of a jam to prevent further damage.
• La Salle put the exclamation mark on the victory in the ninth with eight runs on six hits in the final inning. Guckin, junior Nick O'Day, freshman Will Binder and sophomore Connor Coolahan all came through with RBI hits before Levins delivered the final blow on a two-run double to right, opening up a 14-4 lead.
• Penn would add three runs in the bottom half, but it wouldn't matter as the game was all but over.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• It's the longest win streak for La Salle since 2013 when the Explorers won six in a row. It was also the team's sixth win in the last seven games.
• La Salle's 14 runs were a season high, doing so on 11 hits, including four for extra bases.
• Levins went 3-for-4 with three RBI, three runs scored, a double, a HBP and a walk. Guckin drove in a season-high four runs and was 2-for-4, while Dickerson also went 2-for-4 with two runs and two doubles. It was Cucinotta's second homer of the year while he also scored three runs and walked twice.
• Sophomore Gabe Rappa (1-1) got the win after allowing four runs over 5.1 innings pitched with four strikeouts.

UP NEXT

• The Explorers (11-7) and the Quakers will play game two of the series on Friday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.