PHILADELPHIA – Graduate student Ryan Guckin eclipsed 100 career RBIs and had four hits to help the Explorers to an early lead, but the La Salle University baseball team dropped a heartbreaker in 10 innings at Penn on Tuesday, 8-7. The loss snapped a six-game win streak for La Salle.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Guckin needed only one more RBI to reach 100 and did so right away, driving home senior Jack Cucinotta with an RBI single in the opening frame for a quick 1-0 lead.
• The Explorers continued to swing it well as they hung five runs on Penn starter Joe Miller in the first inning. Freshman Will Binder hit an RBI single to left and then Guckin slid home on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.
• Senior Tommy Toal came through with a two-run single to left to score Binder redshirt sophomore Nick Di Vietro to give the Explorers a 5-0 lead off the jump.
• Penn got a run back in the bottom of the first and then came storming back in the second with three runs on a double and a two-run single to make it 5-4.
• La Salle stretched the difference to 6-4 in the third inning when Cucinotta scored on an RBI sacrifice bunt by sophomore John DeMucci. The Quakers came back within one on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half though.
• Guckin came through again in the fourth to put La Salle back up by a pair, 7-5, when he drove in Cucinotta for the second time on a single through the right side.
• The Quakers got a run on an RBI groundout in the fourth and an RBI fielder's choice in the fifth to tie the game at seven apiece.
• Sophomore Joe Messina held the Quakers in check down the stretch and redshirt freshman Colin Yablonski got the final two outs of the ninth to force extra innings for the first time this year.
• However, Cole Palis struck a bloop single through the left side with the bases loaded to win it for Penn in the 10th.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• It was a banner day for Guckin, who finished the game with a career-high four hits in six at-bats while scoring twice in addition to the 100th and 101st RBIs of his career.
• Messina put up a gutsy performance out of the bullpen, firing a career-high 5.1 innings of relief while allowing just one run on five hits with two strikeouts.
• Binder registered the second three-hit game of his career, going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
• Cucinotta had two hits, two runs, a double and a stolen base. That stolen base was the 35th of his career, moving him into eighth on the program's all-time list.

UP NEXT

• The Explorers (20-12) will have the opportunity to match the 1982 team for the program's best record through 33 games with a win on Wednesday at home against Lehigh. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. from Hank DeVincent Field.