PHILADELPHIA — La Salle’s return to Division I baseball has come with no shortage of offense.
One day after hanging 27 runs in its season opener, the Explorers stayed hot Saturday morning, defeating Maryland Eastern Shore 14-2 in seven innings to clinch the series at Hank DeVincent Field.
La Salle (2-0) scored in four consecutive innings and invoked the 10-run rule in the seventh when Ryan Perez crushed a three-run home run over the right-field wall to end the game.
The outburst followed a familiar script: patience, extra-base hits and timely swings.
Maryland Eastern Shore briefly took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth, highlighted by a solo home run from Jonathan Gonzalez-Perez. But La Salle answered immediately.
Perez opened the bottom of the fourth with a double, and Alec Welshans followed with his second home run in as many days, a drive over the right-field fence to tie the game. Later in the inning, Carter Groen lifted a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Albin and give the Explorers a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish.
Groen delivered the decisive blow in the fifth. After La Salle loaded the bases, the redshirt sophomore lined a three-run double to center field, stretching the lead to 7-2. It marked Groen’s second four-RBI performance in as many games and pushed his season total to eight RBIs.
La Salle added two more runs in the sixth before putting the game away in the seventh. Rueben Livingston began the frame with an RBI double. Jayden Novak followed with a run-scoring double of his own, setting the stage for Perez’s walk-off homer that brought the mercy rule into effect.
The Explorers finished with 12 hits and six walks while reaching base via five hit-by-pitches. Welshans and Perez each homered, and Groen drove in four runs for the second straight game. Novak and Chase Swain each collected two hits, and Welshans swiped two bases as part of La Salle’s aggressive approach.
On the mound, graduate left-hander Owen MacDonnell (1-0) earned the win, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings while striking out four. Hudson Narke and Bruce Wadiak combined for two scoreless innings of relief, striking out two to secure the victory.
Through two games, La Salle has scored 41 runs — tying one of the most prolific starts in program history and signaling that its rebuilt roster is capable of sustained offensive production.
The Explorers will look to complete the series sweep Sunday at noon, with Ryan Brown scheduled to start.
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