Washington, DC – First baseman Alec Welshans hit the first home run of the new era of La Salle baseball on Opening Day Friday and never cooled down en route to an Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honor Tuesday.

The senior from Dillsburg, PA, homered in all three of the Explorers' games of the opening weekend sweep of Maryland Eastern Shore, OPSing 2.045 with seven runs scored, six RBI, a .500 average (5-for-10), and two stolen bases to boot to claim the honor.

Welshans' homer on Friday was a two-run shot over the left field fence to give La Salle a 10-8 lead which it would not relent on the way to a historic 27-run performance. That run production matched the second highest in a single game in program history, tying the mark set by the 1981 team.

Saturday morning, Welshans struck again in timely fashion, belting another two-run homer, this time getting La Salle even at 2-2 in the top of the fourth. It was the catalyst in the Explorers' second-consecutive mercy rule victory on the weekend.

Welshans was right in the middle of another rally on Sunday, leading off the bottom of the third with a solo shot to tie the game at one before the Explorers would take control of the lead for good two batters later Chase Swain's homer.

 An Elon transfer, Welshans clobbered 17 home runs as a freshman and sophomore while playing at Harford Community College, an NAIA Division I member. At Harford, Welshans played under current La Salle hitting coach Mike Zolk, who piloted an offense at Harford that averaged over 10 runs per game during his three years coaching at the program. That trend continued this weekend at La Salle, with the Explores combining to post 48 runs in the series sweep against UMES.

La Salle is back in action Tuesday afternoon, traveling an hour south on I95 to take on Delaware with a first pitch set for 4:05 pm.