March 21, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's baseball team went ahead early then got in a hole late, but the Hawks battled back and earned a 5-4 win in 11 innings on Saturday over the cross-town rival La Salle Explorers. The Hawks are now 2-0 in A-10 play for the first time since 2000.

Saint Joseph's (6-10-1, 2-0 Atlantic 10) opened the scoring right away as Mike Coleman led off with a single. He stole second before advancing to third on a groundout by Matt Barnathan. Another ground out, this one from Ryan McDonald, allowed Coleman to score and put SJU up 1-0.

That score would hold until the bottom of the seventh, when La Salle (8-8, 0-2 Atlantic 10) scored four runs on four singles.

In the top of the eighth, SJU scored a run on a single by Barnathan to cut the Explorer lead to 4-2. The Hawks knotted the game up in the top of the ninth when Ben Wendle singled in a run and Joe Cook drew a bases loaded walk.

SJU pushed the go-ahead run across the plate in the top of the 11th as Cook slapped a single to right. Barnathan, in his third inning of work at this point, sent the Explorers down in the bottom of the frame to secure the win and improve to 1-1.

The Hawks will look to complete the sweep tomorrow at noon at Hank DeVincent Field.