PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania baseball team struggled offensively on Tuesday afternoon at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium, falling 8-0 to the visiting La Salle Explorers.

The Quakers moved to 7-11 with the result and La Salle advanced to 12-12 on the year.

Quaker Notemeal
*Penn finished the outing with a season-low three hits and Tuesday's loss marked the second game this season when the Quakers were shutout.

*Ryan Taylor, Jack Warner, and Gavin Collins were the only Quakers to record hits in the matchup. 

*The Red and Blue threw seven different arms against La Salle, featuring appearances from Ben Moulin, John Cerwinski, Thomas Egbert, Nick Newburn, Braden Fridgen, Luke Pokrovsky and Josh Katz.

*Freshman Jay Secretarski drew four of Penn's 11 walks at the plate.
 
How It Happened
Moulin earned the start on the hill for Penn and sent La Salle's first three batters back to the dugout. Shawn Karpaitis received the nod for the visitors, and despite allowing two walks in the first frame, he recovered nicely to keep the contest scoreless.
 
Both pitchers continued to have their way in the second inning, but the Explorers scored their first run of the day in the third. Jayden Novak got the offense's wheels turning with a leadoff single, followed by a bunt from Daniel Perez. Kosei Suzuki laid down a sac bunt during the next at-bat to move Novak and Perez into scoring position. Justin Szestowicki then drove in Novak with a sac fly to left field to give La Salle a 1-0 lead.
 
The Explorers' bats stayed hot in the fourth frame and put together a three-run inning. After back-to-back walks and an error from the hosts, Perez stepped to the plate with two outs. The second baseman proceeded to rip a double to right field, which drove in three runs to extend the visitors' lead to 4-0.

Egbert came in to pitch in the top of the fifth inning and made quick work of the Explorers, retiring them in order, including back-to-back strikeouts. Collins registered a base knock through the left side to begin Penn's at-bats, but the momentum was short-lived. Secretarski and Taylor followed up with walks to load the bases, but reliever Connor Collora sat down Gavin Degnan to escape the inning.
 
After a scoreless sixth frame, La Salle found its offensive rhythm, tacking on two more runs in the seventh. Two walks and a single from Carter Groen put three runners on base for La Salle, leaving Ryan Perez with work to do at the dish. The designated hitter made his way to first via an error at second base, which allowed Groen and Suzuki to waltz across home plate to make it a 6-0 ballgame.
 
The Explorers' final two runs of the day were driven in courtesy of a two-RBI single by Austin Rhue.  

Up Next
The Quakers look to bounce back this weekend as they make the trip to New Haven, Conn., to continue Ivy League play in a three-game set against Yale.

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