Baseball | May 12, 2021

PHILADELPHIA – Fresh off a series win over rival Saint Joseph's, the La Salle University baseball team (29-16, 12-4 A-10) will head to Fordham for a crucial four-game Atlantic 10 Conference series this weekend. All four games – Friday (3 p.m.), Saturday (12/3 p.m. DH), Sunday (12 p.m.) – will be streamed on ESPN+.

LEVINS LANDS A-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Junior Tatem Levins was named Atlantic 10 Conference Co-Player of the Week on Monday following a sensational performance in the series win over Saint Joseph's this past weekend.
• Levins hit .636 with a .765 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage while driving in six runs, scoring five more, walking six times and homering once.
• The catcher is now hitting .310 for the season, right on par with his career batting average of .316, and he has a team-high 46 RBI to go with six home runs, 41 runs and 13 doubles.

LAST TIME OUT

• La Salle took three out of four games from Saint Joseph's in their final home series of the season over the weekend.
• Senior Colin Scanlon threw eight scoreless innings in a combined shutout effort with redshirt freshman Colin Yablonski to lead the Explorers to a 5-0 win in Friday's opener. Freshman Will Binder and graduate student Ryan Guckin both homered in the victory.
• The Explorers then honored their eight seniors on Saturday as they split a doubleheader on Senior Day. Freshman Frank Elissalt tossed a seven-inning complete game to pave the way in an 8-3 victory in game one. Levins cranked a three-run homer in game two as part of a 5-for-6 day, but the Explorers came up just short in seven innings, 4-3.
• La Salle then erupted for 14 runs on 15 hits in a 14-5 win in the home finale on Sunday to clinch the series. Guckin clobbered his third homer of the series in the win and was one of six Explorers with multi-hit games. Junior Nick O'Day led the charge, going 3-for-3 and reaching base in all five plate appearances.

WITHIN REACH

• The Explorers are now 29-16 overall, just two wins away from the school record of 31. That happened in 1985 when La Salle made the NCAA tournament and finished 31-20 on the year.
• With the series win over Saint Joseph's, the Explorers held firm on first place in the Atlantic 10 North standings at 12-4 in conference. That's the Explorers' best A-10 start ever since the team joined the league in 1996. La Salle holds a two-game lead over Rhode Island (8-4 A-10) in the North Division. Only the top four teams will make the Atlantic 10 Championship this year, which takes place May 27-29.

RECORDS, RECORDS, RECORDS

• Ryan Guckin is having a career year, batting .325 and leaving a mark on the program's all-time ranks. Guckin is tied for second place on the program's single-season triples list with six this season, which ranks second in the nation, and needs only one more to tie Sam Boone ('85) for the school record of seven. The first baseman is also tied for fifth in the program for career doubles with 45. In addition, he has 17 doubles this season, which is tied for seventh most in the program and currently has him seventh in the country. Guckin needs just one more double for sixth and two more to move into a tie for fourth on the single-season list. He also has 116 career RBI, only three away from 10th in the program.
• Jack Cucinotta has been racing his way up the program's all-time ranks for stolen bases. Cucinotta has 43 career stolen bases, which ranks sixth in school history, and needs two more to move into fifth place all-time. The center fielder has 25 stolen bases this season, which puts him tied for fifth on the program's single-season list and ranks fifth in the nation. He needs just two more to tie for third place.
• Frank Elissalt has 86 strikeouts this season, which ranks third on the program's single-season list. He needs only four more to move into second place and is 21 away from the school record of 107 set by Will Fleck in 1997. Elissalt (6-2) is tied for seventh in the program for single-season wins as well.
• Colin Scanlon has 160 career strikeouts, which ranks 10th in school history, and is 22 strikeouts away from ninth place. With 67 strikeouts this season, he is now only one away from 10th on the program's single-season list, and at 6-2, he is also tied for seventh in single-season victories.
• Colin Kennedy has five saves this season, needing only one more to tie for 10th on the program's single-season saves list.
• Tatem Levins has 46 RBI this season and needs only four more to tie himself (2019) and two others for 10th place in single-season history.

SCOUTING FORDHAM

• The Rams enter the series at 20-15 overall and 7-5 in the Atlantic 10 to go with a 13-7 home record.
• Fordham will be either well-rested or rusty when they take the field, as they have not played since May 5, an 11-8 loss to Army in 10 innings. Before that, the Rams split a four-game series with UMass at home. They also split with Saint Joe's and took 3-of-4 from St. Bonaventure.
• When you talk about Fordham, you have to talk about pitcher Matt Mikulski. The left-hander is 7-0 with a 1.33 ERA this season. He leads the nation with 16.9 strikeouts per nine innings and is second in hits allowed per nine innings (3.6). Mikulski is also top 10 nationally in strikeouts (102), ERA and WHIP (0.83). Aside from him, Fordham has a team ERA of 3.83 and a 1.35 WHIP.
• Offensively, Jake Guercio leads the team with a .309 batting average and a .449 on-base percentage, while Jason Coules has a team-high 22 runs and 20 stolen bases to go with a .306 average.