College Baseball: LaSalle10-2 Win at St.Joseph's, SC Aiken Squeezes Past Lander, Div. III Rankings
Saturday, April 13, 2013
LaSalle Tallies Season-High 21 Hits
MERION STATION, Pa. – After notching only four hits the day before, the La Salle baseball team tallied a season-
high 21 base knocks in a 10-2 victory over Saint Joseph's on Saturday afternoon at John Smithson Field. Freshman Joey Ravert (4-5, 2 RBI, run) and sophomore Kevin Baron (4-5, RBI, run) paced the Explorer offense with four hits apiece while junior Shawn O'Neill picked up his third win of the season after tossing 6.2 innings of two-run ball.
With the win, the Blue and Gold improve to 13-19 (7-4 A-10) on the season while the Hawks slip to 17-17 (5-3 A-10).
The Explorers began the scoring frenzy with two in the second when Ravert tripled home sophomore Mark Williams (3-5, 3 RBI, 2 runs) from first followed by an RBI single from sophomore Ryan Welling (3-4, RBI, run) to plate Ravert from third.
La Salle added another in the third and two more in the fourth behind RBI knocks from Williams, senior Dan Klem (1-6, RBI, run) and sophomore Justin Korenblatt (3-5, RBI, run).
Meanwhile, O'Neill was efficient on the hill for the Blue and Gold in his 6.2 innings of work. The junior struck out two and walked two while stranding six Hawk baserunners on the afternoon.
The Explorers added two more in the sixth to open up a 7-0 lead on SJU. The Hawks countered with two of their own in the bottom of the frame, but sniffed only one hit off sophomore Adam Cherry and freshman Austin Clark the rest of the way, who combined to work 2.1 scoreless innings in relief.
The Explorers and Hawks will square off on Sunday at 12 p.m. in the series rubber match. Sophomore Shane Hollman will toe the slab for La Salle and will be opposed by SJU's Daniel Thorpe.
NOTES: La Salle's previous season-high for hits in a single game was 13, which it posted on four occasions this season…for the ballgame, the Explorers combined to go 21-for-46 (.456), its highest single game average on the season. The showing helped raise the team batting average from .248 to .257…O'Neill's 6.2 innings of work was the most he's thrown since going the distance on March 17 vs. Chicago State…Ravert is 12 for his last 19 (.632) at the plate and has raised his average from .237 to .333 over his last five games…Baron and Korenblatt both notched multi-hit games on Saturday and remain tied for the team lead with 12 on the season…Baron extended his reached base streak to a current team-high six in the ballgame…with his three RBI showing on Saturday, Williams upped his team lead in the category to 17 on the season. The sophomore has driven in 13 runs in his last 11 games
GREENWOOD, S.C. – Ninth-ranked South Carolina Aiken picked up an 8-6 extra inning victory against the 10th-ranked Lander Bearcats on Friday.
The win gives the Pacers an early advantage in the weekend series between the top-two teams in the Peach Belt Conference.
USC Aiken (32-8, 17-5 PBC) picked up two runs in the top of 10th inning and Danny Wissmann came in to shut the door in the bottom of the 10th to secure the win. Sean Miller picked up the game-winning RBI with a single and Tyler Moore scored on the play as well.
The Pacers opened the scoring in the game by plating the first three runs of the game. A Ryan Metzler double scored Ty Barkell in the second inning and Branden Millhouse scored on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Baur in the third. USC Aiken scored again in the fifth to take a three-run lead on an RBI single by Bill Gerstenslager that drove in Millhouse to push the Pacer lead to 3-0.
Lander (29-10, 18-7 PBC) answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Bearcats scored on an RBI double and a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 3-2.
The Pacers scored again in the top of the sixth when Moore singled in JJ Loker, but Lander scored twice more in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game at four.
USC Aiken added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to take a 6-4 advantage. A Moore sacrifice fly scored Gerstenslager in the eighth and Baur drove in Josh Miller in the ninth inning.
The Bearcats posted two runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. Patrick Grady had a two-RBI single to tie the game at six.
USC Aiken out-hit Lander 11-10 in the Pacer victory. Barkell was the only Pacer with multiple hits in the game, going 2-for-5 with one run scored. Baur and Moore each drove in two runs for the Pacers.
Connor Lewis and Ian Harvey claimed multiple hits for Lander. They both went 2-for-4 in the game.
The Pacers used five pitchers in the game and closer Taylor Grover picked up the win. Grover (3-0) struck out two and gave up his first earned runs of the season in one inning of work. Wissmann earned his first save of the season by pitching the 10th inning.
Three Bearcat pitchers saw action in the loss. Johnny Walker (0-2) took the loss, pitching 1.1 innings and giving up two runs
Rankings
NCAA Rankings Division III Last updated - April 9, 2013
| RANK | SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|
| 1 | Kean (8) | 21-5 | 580 | 6 |
| 2 | Linfield (6) | 22-5 | 566 | 2 |
| 3 | Salisbury (4) | 21-5 | 556 | 4 |
| 4 | St. Thomas (Minn.) (3) | 16-4 | 536 | 7 |
| 5 | Johns Hopkins (3) | 22-2 | 524 | 11 |
| 6 | Marietta (1) | 15-6 | 461 | 3 |
| 7 | SUNY Cortland | 18-7 | 447 | 1 |
| 8 | Christopher Newport | 27-9-1 | 412 | 8 |
| 9 | Ramapo | 16-3 | 399 | 5 |
| 10 | Trinity (Texas) | 26-7 | 391 | 9 |
| 11 | Wisconsin-Whitewater | 15-3 | 356 | 14 |
| 12 | Wheaton (Mass.) | 16-6 | 337 | 10 |
| 13 | Keystone | 19-6 | 304 | 12 |
| 14 | Manchester | 19-3-1 | 287 | 16 |
| 15 | Webster | 16-6 | 275 | 15 |
| 16 | Texas-Tyler | 25-8 | 254 | 13 |
| 17 | George Fox | 20-8 | 172 | 17 |
| 18 | Cal Lutheran | 22-6-1 | 136 | 22 |
| 19 | Augustana | 17-4 | 130 | 23 |
| 20 | Birmingham-Southern | 24-8 | 125 | 20 |
| 21 | Wisconsin-Oshkosh | 12-2 | 124 | 19 |
| 22 | Pomona-Pitzer | 22-7 | 99 | 24 |
| 23 | Wisconsin-Stevens Point | 12-3 | 97 | NR |
| 24 | Southern Maine | 15-3 | 78 | NR |
| 25 | Shenandoah | 18-7 | 74 | 18 |
Dropped Out: No. 21 St. Joseph's (Maine), No 25 Haverford.
Others Receiving Votes: Haverford 69, Illinois Wesleyan 61, Bridgewater 58, Ithaca 44, Suffolk 28, Western New England 26, Saint Joseph's (Maine) 25, Wartburg 21, Baldwin Wallace 19, St. Scholastica 18, Texas Lutheran 10, Washington & Jefferson 6, William Paterson 5, Wisconsin-La Crosse 3, La Roche 3, Huntingdon 3, Benedictine 2, Millsaps 2, Concordia 2.