The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Five-run 3rd helps La Salle top Pennsbury
THE SCORE La Salle 9, Pennsbury 6 Up next for La Salle: The Explorers will face Liberty on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the PIAA 6A Tournament.
PHILADELPHIA » La Salle baseball coach Kyle Werman was quick to recall the recent chances the Explorers had with the bases loaded and no outs and could not find a way to score a run.
“When we beat Judge Wood , bases loaded nobody out — strikeout, grounded into a double play.”
La Salle, however, did not come away empty when the same situation happened once again in Monday afternoon’s PIAA-6A first round matchup with Pennsbury.
Jephson Hadson-Taylor broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the third inning with his bases-loaded infield single while Kevin Kell followed with a sacrifice fly to right, putting La Salle up two.
“We’ve left some runners stranded in big games before so it was nice to get them in this game,” La Salle senior left fielder Tommy Convey said.
The Explorers tacked on three more runs in the frame to build a 7-2 lead then held off the Falcons to earn a 9-6 victory at Lincoln High School.
“We talked about approach and how to be competitive and it started with Jeph fighting off a bunch of pitches,” Werman said. “Looked overmatched on a couple but kept grinding and seeing if he could get a ball in play and a good thing happens. Kevin Kell, same thing with his sac fly.
“Those are the at-bats that really turn the tide as you got contact off a guy that was really on the defense. Pitcher’s making his pitches and we didn’t let in and I think that was the story.”
Convey, hitting eighth in the lineup, finished 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles — his second driving in a run to make it 6-2 in the third — and three RBIs. Starting pitcher Kell, meanwhile, threw six innings in earning the win while at the plate collected two RBIs as La Salle, the defending state champ, advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time in the last four PIAA tournaments.