Hanover, MD – The La Salle baseball team won its third consecutive weekend series to start the season, clinching this weekend's set over Coppin State with a 9-6 victory on Saturday afternoon.
La Salle opened the game with three runs in the first inning and two in the second to build a 5-0 lead and received a dominant eight-inning bullpen effort from
Hudson Narke,
Connor Collora, and
Josh Beck to hold off Coppin State and improve to 7-2.
Chase Swain,
Justin Szestowicki,
Alec Welshans, and
Rueben Livingston each drove in two RBI for La Salle. Livingston stayed scorching-hot at the plate with two doubles, and is now OPSing 1.550 during a five-game hitting streak dating back to last weekend.
Livingston got the afternoon started with a two-run double in the top of the first and scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Szestowicki. La Salle built on the lead in the second, when
Daniel Perez scored on a wild pitch and Swain drove in
Ryan Perez with a ground-rule double.
Coppin State dug into La Salle's lead with three in the bottom of the second, but the Explorers responded in a big way when Welshan's hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season in the top of the fourth.
Szestowicki added his second RBI of the afternoon in the fifth, singling home Livingston to make it 8-3.
Coppin State added three more in the seventh to cut the lead to 8-6, but
Josh Beck ended the threat and stranded the tying runs in scoring position.
La Salle added one for insurance in the eighth on a bases-loaded single off the bat of Swain to make it 9-6.
Beck tossed a perfect eighth inning and worked around a hit bater in the bottom of the ninth to lock down the save. Beck's final line was three innings pitched, no hits, no runs, no walks, and three strikeouts, facing the minimum.
Hudson Narke posted a nearly identical outing, going three innings to bridge the second to the fifth innings. Narke entered a bases-loaded jam in the second with the Explorers clinging to a 5-3 lead and induced a 1-2-3 double play to put out the fire. Narke struck out two on a hit and a walk without allowing a run. The junior is credited with the win.
Connor Collora tossed scoreless sixth and seventh innings, working around a hit and two walks while striking out a batter.
La Salle goes for the sweep tomorrow afternoon as the two teams wrap up the series at 1:00 pm.
