Box Score Philadelphia, PA – Kross Howarth,
Josh Beck, and
Titus Shay combined to throw a no-hitter as La Salle defeated Davidson, 10-1, in the rubber game of this weekend's Atlantic 10 Conference series at Hank DeVincent Field.
It is La Salle's first no hitter since Jeff Hentz's in 1982.
It's the first A-10 series win for La Salle since the return of baseball to the school this season. La Salle last won an A-10 in May 2021 at Fordham. The Explorers move to 2-4 in conference play, having taken Saturday and Sunday's contests against Davidson.
The trio of Howarth, Beck, and Shay struck out a combined 13 Wildcat batters. Howarth got the start and struck out five across 3 2/3 innings pitched, with the only blemish coming on a bases-loaded walk in the fourth.
Beck took over with two out in the fourth and faced the minimum over his 2 1/3 innings pitched. He induced a flyout to escape the bases-loaded jam in the fourth and then struck out a pair over the next two innings.
Shay entered the game in the seventh inning and pitched three perfect frames for the save, striking out six of the nine batters faced.
In seven appearances this season, Shay has only allowed a run in one of them. After Sunday's three-inning save, he has also allowed just one hit in 10 2/3 innings pitched, striking out a total of 18.
Beck lowers his season ERA to under 3.00 and has struck out 13 batters in 14 innings pitched on the season.
Howarth, the Explorers' Opening Day starter, was making his third appearance back after being sidelined for nearly a month with brief injury. His five strikeouts and 3 2/3 innings pitched are both career-highs for the sophomore transfer from Tulane.
La Salle's pitchers received all the run support that they could possibly need Sunday as the Explorers' bats stayed hot to finish the weekend.
Carter Groen broke the ice with a run-scoring double play in the bottom of the first, and La Salle broke the game open with four in the second.
Jayden Novak lined a two-run double down the left field line, scored on a triple off the bat of
Daniel Perez, and
Kosei Suzuki brought Perez home on a sacrifice fly to give La Salle and Howarth a 5-0 lead.
After a run-scoring groundout in the third,
Alec Welshans hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season on a deep drive to left in the fifth.
Rueben Livingston joined the party in the sixth with a two-run homer of his own to make it 10-1.
Offensively, La Salle put up 31 runs during the three-game set at Hank DeVincent Field this weekend. In addition to Sunday's 10-1 win, the Explorers won Saturday, 8-2, and put up a series-best despite a 17-13 loss Friday.
La Salle's bullpen was unscored upon in Saturday and Sunday's wins. Beck, Shay, and
Hudson Narke (three scoreless Saturday) hung a combined 9 1/3 scoreless across the two days, with Shay having thrown in each game.
The Explorers have an off-day Monday before heading down to University City to take on Big 5 rival Penn on Tuesday. The team will return home to take on Saint Peter's Wednesday at 3:00 at The Hank before embarking on next weekend's A-10 series at George Washington.
