Dayton, OH – On an afternoon where offense was aplenty, La Salle came up on the short side of a slugfest with Dayton, falling, 21-14, Sunday afternoon in the rubber match of the weekend series.
The two teams combined for 35 hits (La Salle 16, Dayton 19), nine home runs, and 20 total extra base hits.
Carter Groen led the way for La Salle's offensive charge, going 4-for-6 with a pair of home runs and a pair of doubles, driving in four RBI and scoring twice.
Jayden Novak and
Jayden Ocasio had three RBI each,
Justin Szestowicki hit a two-run homer and scored three times, and
Alec Welshans and
Kosei Suzuki each had an RBI.
With his monster day, Groen reclaimed the Atlantic 10 Conference lead in RBI (68).
With a multi-hit day, going 2-for-5,
Chase Swain raised his season batting average to .380, good for fourth best in the A-10 Conference. Swain is also top five in slugging, on base, OPS, runs scored, hits, and triples.
La Salle opened the afternoon by scoring six runs in the top of the first inning. Szestowicki hit a two-run homer, Suzuki hit an RBI single, and Ocasio drove in three with a bases-loaded double to provide the fireworks right out of the gate.
The three RBI were the first career for Ocasio, a freshman.
After Dayton added a run in the bottom of the first, La Salle responded with three in the second, courtesy of Groen's first homer of the day – a three-run shot to make it 9-1.
Dayton would turn the game upside down and score 14 runs from the bottom of the second through fifth, as the score stood 15-12, after five.
La Salle cut it to 15-13 on Groen's second homer of the day in the top of the sixth – a solo shot – but Dayton responded by scoring six more between the sixth and eighth innings to reach 21 runs, the most La Salle has allowed this season.
The Explorers showed fight in the ninth, scoring a pair of runs courtesy of RBI hits from Groen and Welshans, but couldn't cut it any closer on a wild afternoon.
La Salle returns home for the home season finale this weekend, hosting St. Bonaventure on Friday-Sunday.
