La Salle’s offense explodes in win over Roman Catholic
SPRINGFIELD >> The La Salle offense showed up in a big way Monday afternoon.
The Explorers totaled 19 hits in a 19-8 Philadelphia Catholic League win over Roman Catholic at Ward Field at La Salle College High School.
La Salle (6-2 PCL), which was the road team despite playing at home, took the lead for good in the top of the fourth inning. Greg Sywulak hit a two-run single to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 lead.
Sywulak’s hit got the scoring started for a 10-run fourth inning that gave the Explorers full control.
“We’ve been catching some tough luck the last couple weeks,” La Salle coach Kyle Werman said of the offense. “We’ve hit some balls really hard and guys don’t have anything to show for it … Today they started to find some holes. We hit some balls not hard that found holes and then we got our share of hard-hit balls that found the gap, which was really nice to see.”
Jack Pogyor had a three-run double a few batters later and a couple more runs scored on groundouts and errors.
Andrew Cossetti capped of the fourth-inning scoring. He was hit by a pitch with two runners on and two outs, while La Salle led, 12-6. Cossetti started to first base before the umpire told him to come back for not attempting to get out of the way.
Cossetti ended up getting much more than a trip to first. He ripped an inside-the-park home run down the right field line, putting La Salle up, 15-6.
“You never know what happens with that rule,” Cossetti said. “Some umpires call it, some umpire don’t. I went from a walk to an inside-the-park home run, so I’m not complaining.”
Cossetti finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Sywulak was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs. Pogyor went 3-for-5 with six RBI.
“I’m hopeful that this is what our offense can settle into,” Werman said. “Maybe not what we did today, but to some degree you see that consistency. We’ve shown flashes, but this is the first time it’s all come together and it’s really good to see.”
Eric Marasheski was the one setting the table. He went 2-for-2 with two walks, a sacrifice fly, two RBI and three runs scored. He led off the top of the first inning and worked an eight-pitch walk.
The Roman defense did its pitchers no favors. The Cahillites made six errors to add to La Salle’s 19 hits.
“We didn’t play good defense today,” Roman coach Anthony Valucci said. “Six errors. Give La Salle credit. I think they had 19 hits, so they really swung the bats today. But we didn’t give ourselves a chance with six errors.”
Roman (4-4 PCL) scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 6-5 lead. The key hit was a three-run double by Brendan Meyers.
Their offense didn’t stop until Riley Monohan came in for La Salle. He came into the game with two outs and two runners on base in the bottom of the third with Roman ahead, 6-5, and the top of its lineup batting. He struck out the leadoff hitter and allowed just two runs on two hits over the next four innings.
“That was a huge momentum play,” Werman said.
“Riley has been a guy over his career — he hasn’t been healthy. He’s finally healthy this year. Last fall he had a chance plenty and now coming in he’s finally getting some opportunities. He did a really nice job today and gave us a steady four, five innings out there where we could let the bats come to work.”
La Salle 19, Roman Catholic 8
La Salle 500 (10)01 3 — 19
Roman Catholic 060 200 0 — 8
Top Photo: La Salle’s Andrew Cossetti rips a base hit against Roman Catholic during their game on Monday, May 1, 2017. (Rick Cawley/For Digital First Media)
