April 13, 2013

Box Score

MERION STATION, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's baseball team fell to La Salle, 10-2, at Smithson Field on Saturday afternoon. Junior first baseman Mike Muha had three of SJU's nine hits in the game and also scored a run, while sophomore catch Brian O'Keefe extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

La Salle (13-19 overall, 7-4 Atlantic 10) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second, scoring on a triple by Joey Ravert and a single by Ryan Welling.

The Explorers expanded the lead in each of the next two innings as Mark Williams had a run-scoring double in the third before Dan Klem's fielder's choice and Justin Korenblatt's single in the fourth extended the lead to 5-0.

In the sixth, Williams added a sacrifice fly and Ravert hit an RBI single to make it a seven-run La Salle advantage.

Saint Joseph's (17-17 overall, 5-3 Atlantic 10) broke through in the sixth as Muha led off the frame with a ground-rule double. O'Keefe extended his streak with a single before Chris Hueth singled two batters later to bring home Muha. Anthony Cirillo then beat out a relay throw on a fielder's choice that allowed O'Keefe to score and make it a 7-2 ballgame.

Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, the Explorers got one back in the top of the seventh on a single by Kevin Baron and then tacked on two in the eighth on singles by Williams and George Smith, Jr.

Jordan Carter was charged with seven runs, five earned, and 13 hits in five and a third innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter, falling to 2-2 on the year. Shawn O'Neill went six and two-thirds for La Salle, allowing two runs on eight hits, two walks, and two strikeouts to improve to 3-4.

The teams will wrap up the series on Sunday at Smithson Field. First pitch is set for noon. Live stats and streaming audio will be available at SJUHawks.com.