Philadelphia, PA – In the program's first game back in action since 2021, the La Salle baseball team powered through the mid-February cold to provide one of the strongest offensive performances in school history Friday.
La Salle defeated Maryland Eastern Shore, 27-10, in seven innings at Hank DeVincent Field on Opening Day, ushering in a new era of baseball on 20
th and Olney. La Salle's 27 runs tie the second-most in a single game in program history, the other time coming in 1981.
Carter Groen drove in four RBI,
Alec Welshans and
Daniel Perez each homered and drove in three, while
Rueben Livingston also drove in a trio, to lead the Explorers' offense.
Ryan Albin and
Chase Swain drove in a pair of runs each.
Perez and
Justin Szestowicki each had three hits to lead a balanced Explorers offense.
Shawn Karpaitis tossed five innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen, striking out three and scattering three hits to qualify for the win.
La Salle wasted no time getting back into action, dropping an eight-run spot in the bottom of the first inning, powered by run-scoring hits off the bats of
Daniel Perez and Swain. La Salle drew four hit batters and two walks in that opening inning, sending 14 to bat.
After Maryland Eastern Shore came back to tie it in the top of the second, La Salle reclaimed the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning on Welshans' two-run homer high over the left field wall. Later in the inning, Groen doubled home three to put La Salle ahead, 13-7.
The Explorers extended the lead with a four-run fourth and then added six more in the fifth, spearheaded on extra base hits from Albin, Swain, and
Jayden Novak.
Perez added La Salle's second homer of the game in the sixth inning on a high fly ball to right field, a solo shot.
La Salle would add two more in the bottom of the seventh before the game was called.
Karpaitis inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the top of the third, with the Explorers clinging to a 13-7 lead. The junior righty coaxed a double play to his first batter faced and then struck out the next to escape the jam, and went into cruise control after, spinning three scoreless before allowing a run with two out in the seventh.
La Salle will hit the field early on Saturday, facing Maryland Eastern Shore in the second game of the series at 10:00 am. Graduate lefty
Owen MacDonnell will get the ball for the Explorers. The game will be streamed on YouTube (@LaSalleAthletics).
