April 12, 2013

Box Score

MERION STATION, Pa. - Senior righthander Kyle Mullen tied the school record for career wins as the Saint Joseph's baseball team rolled to a 12-1 win over La Salle on Friday afternoon at Smithson Field. Mike Muha was 2-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored while Greg Kumpel and Brian O'Keefe had two RBI apiece.

Anthony Cirillo recorded his 100th career hit in the game as well, ripping a single to center field in the first inning, to become the 59th Hawk to reach that milestone.

Mullen notched the 19th victory of his career, tying Jed Johnson (1993-96) atop the all-time list. He tossed seven innings, allowing a run on four hits while walking two and striking out six. The Hawks have now won 16 consecutive conference games that Mullen has started dating back to 2011.

Saint Joseph's (17-16 overall, 5-2 Atlantic 10) jumped all over Explorer starter Ryan Donohue as the first four hitters of the game reached base. Collin Forgey led off with a double before Stefan Kancylarz walked and Muha was hit with a pitch to load the bases. O'Keefe then extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an infield single to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

A sacrifice fly from Chris Hueth and a two-run base hit by Kumpel pushed the lead to 4-0 after one.

Muha tacked on a run in the second, hitting his third home run of the season to make it a 5-0 game. Kevin Kratochwill then drove in a run with the bases loaded in the third to extend the margin to six.

La Salle (12-19 overall, 6-4 Atlantic 10) broke through in the fourth, scoring its only run on a two-out single by Ryan Welling, but the Hawks got the run back in the bottom half after Muha tripled and O'Keefe brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

SJU broke things wide open in the bottom of the seventh with a four-spot to close the scoring. Cirillo and Quinn Renner hit back-to-back RBI singles before bases-loaded walks by Forgey and Kancylarz brought home the final two runs of the game.

Mullen retired nine consecutive hitters in the early innings and then retired the last six batters he faced to improve to 6-3 on the year. Donohue fell to 1-3, allowing seven runs and seven hits in four innings.

Freshman Jack Stover tossed two perfect innings to finish off the game for the Hawks.

Eight of the Hawks' starting nine scored at least one run in the game, while seven of nine recorded hits. SJU also drew a season-high nine walks on the day.

The teams will continue the series on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. at Smithson Field. Live stats and streaming audio will be available at SJUHawks.com.