Lehigh University Athletics
Tuesday, April 11
Bethlehem, PA
3 p.m.
Lehigh University
11-20
13
vs
4
La Salle University
6-24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
La Salle
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
5
0
Lehigh
3
0
2
0
2
0
0
6
X
13
15
0
Lehigh Offense Surges Past La Salle
4/11/2017 7:43:00 PM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks broke out of their offense slumber in a big way with a season-high tying four home runs in a 13-4 victory over La Salle on Tuesday at J. David Walker Field.
Lehigh (11-20) hit .395 as a team to end a seven-game streak of a below .300 batting average and also ended its three-game skid. LU's 15 hits is the first double-digit hit total in nine games and the 13 runs scored is the first double-figure total in seven games. With four more home runs on the day, Lehigh now has seven homers in the last two games and has 11 multi-home run games this season. LU is one of the top-40 teams in the nation in total home runs and home runs per game.
Senior right fielder Jacen Nalesnik provided plenty of pop to the LU offensive outburst as he went deep twice on the day. Nalesnik now has nine home runs on the season, which matches his career total coming into this season. His nine homers leads the Patriot League and ranks near the top-10 in the nation.
It looked like an uphill battle was instore for the entirety of the game as the fourth batter up for La Salle (6-24) hit a grand slam to give the Explorers a 4-0 through one half inning of play. Lehigh did not seem fazed by the early deficit and shifted the momentum by answering with three runs in the bottom of the first inning with the help of a two-run blast by Nalesnik.
The Mountain Hawks tied it up in the third inning on a shallow sacrifice fly by John Scarr, which allowed Nalesnik to score from third. LU took the lead with next at bat when Chris Kersey poked a single to right field to drive in Connor Donovan from second base.
Lehigh tacked on more runs in the fifth on a two-run shot by Scarr. The lefty now has three home runs on the season, which sets a new single-season high.
The Mountain Hawks did even further damage with the long ball and busted open a nine-run lead following a six-run outburst in the eighth inning. Ryan Bonshak and Nalesnik did the heavy lifting for the offense in the inning as each player recorded two-run homers.
After working through the first inning woes, the LU pitching staff held up its end of the bargain the rest of the way. The staff combined to record 10 strikeouts and scattered just five hits throughout the whole game. The 10 strikeouts is the fourth double-digit strikeout performance as group this season and the five hits allowed is third-lowest number of hits allowed this year.
Chris Butera received credit for the win and is now 1-0 on the season coming out of the bullpen. Butera tossed 5.0 scoreless innings, giving up two hits with no walks and a career-high five strikeouts. Anthony Morrone also contributed in relief as he allowed just one run on two hits in 3.0 innings of work with one walk and a season-high four strikeouts.
Reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, Mat Holt, took the loss for La Salle as he went 4.0 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
The Mountain Hawks will look to ride some of the momentum built up in Tuesday's win into the weekend as they host Navy in a four-game Patriot League set. The weekend's doubleheaders are slated to both begin at 12 p.m. at Walker Field.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Butera, Chris (1-0)
L: HOLT, Matt (2-1)
Batting:
2B: EVANS, Dylan 1
HR: FASO, Ben 1
RBI: FASO, Ben 4
Base Running:
RUNS: AMANAU, Rafael 1 ; GUCKIN, Ryan 1 ; MCGOWAN, Kevin 1 ; FASO, Ben 1
SB: AMANAU, Rafael 1
HBP: AMANAU, Rafael 2 ; GUCKIN, Ryan 1 ; FASO, Ben 1
Batting:
2B: Donovan, Connor 1 ; Scarr, John 1
3B: Bleming, James 1
HR: Bonshak, Ryan 1 ; Nalesnik, Jacen 2 ; Scarr, John 1
RBI: Bonshak, Ryan 2 ; Nalesnik, Jacen 4 ; Scarr, John 5 ; Kersey, Chris 1 ; Schumacher, Thomas 1
SF: Scarr, John 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bonshak, Ryan 1 ; Bleming, James 2 ; Nalesnik, Jacen 3 ; Donnelly, Patrick 1 ; Donovan, Connor 3 ; Scarr, John 1 ; Kersey, Chris 1 ; Kochmansky, Jake 1
SB: Kersey, Chris 1 ; Kochmansky, Jake 1 ; Hand, Matt 1
HBP: Bleming, James 1 ; Donovan, Connor 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
3
H
3
RBI
4
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
5
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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