**Note: This article originally appeared in The Reporter and on GameTimePA.com**
UPPER GWYNEDD — Lansdale Catholic found itself behind early and was never able to recover in a 14-4 Philadelphia Catholic League loss to La Salle in five innings Wednesday afternoon.
The Explorers scored four runs in the top of the first and never looked back from there.
“Against a team like LaSalle, and they’re a very good team, you can’t make any mistakes,” LC coach Dave Scott said. “You can’t give up any errors; you can’t give up home runs. You have to make every single play and be smart. And when you’re not, a team like that just jumps on you. They did what they had to do when we gave them some opportunities.”
La Salle’s four-run first was aided by four walks, two wild pitches and a stolen base — the Explorers needed just one hit to do their damage. The first five batters of the game all reached base as well.
“You always want to put up a number early,” La Salle coach Kyle Werman said. “We were patient, at times we were taking a pitch to make (LC pitcher PJ Guippone) show that he can command it and when guys got on base we opened it up a little bit…our guys did a good job of staying patient and letting the game come to us.”
The Crusaders responded well in their half of the first inning, scoring two runs of their own. They added another on a double by Justin Gaumer in the second to make it 4-3, but that was as close as the game would get. Gaumer was a bright spot for LC on offense, going 1-for-1 with two walks and a run scored to go along with his RBI double.
“I was seeing the ball well at the plate,” Gaumer said. “I was just trying to get on base to help the team because we needed base runners so I was just trying my hardest to help the team.”
Leadoff man Kyle Diseroad also had a nice game offensively for LC, chipping in two of the Crusaders’ five hits and scoring two runs on the day.
After a closely contested first few innings LaSalle found a way to assert themselves, scoring three runs in the third inning, four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to enforce the 10-run rule. During the same span, the Explorers were also able to hold LC to just one run.
Andrew Cossetti led the charge offensively for La Salle, going 3-for-4 on the day with two singles, a two-run home run and four RBIs. Kyle Hemcher and Gregg Sywlak also scored three runs each.
On the mound, Anthony Morabito got the start and pitched three innings, while Jimmy Dougherty was able to come in and close the door in the fourth and fifth.
“When (Morabito) was in the zone he had success,” Werman said. “He’s done a nice job this year being more consistent for us on the mound…when he does that, we roll.”
LC looks to move on from today’s loss, and there is reason to be excited about the weeks ahead.
“We didn’t talk too much about today’s game (in the post-game huddle),’ Scott said. “We talked a little bit more about the upcoming schedule; we’ve been through kind of the hard part of the PCL schedule and we’ve got some games coming up that we hope we’re going to be a little bit more competitive in and see if we can turn some things around in our league record.”
LaSalle 14, Lansdale Catholic 4
LaSalle 403 43 — 14 11 1
Lansdale Catholic 210 10 — 4 5 2
WP: Anthony Morabito 3 IP 4 H 3 R 3 ER 2 BB 6 SO 2 HB.
LP: PJ Guippone – 4 IP 8 H 11 R 10 ER 8 BB 2 SO.
2B: LaS-MacIntosh; LC-Gaumer; HR: LaS-Cossetti
SB: LaS-Herron, Sywlak, Livingston, Cossetti, Grezeszak (2); LC-Diseroad
La Salle: Andrew Cossetti 3-4 4 RBI, 2 R; Kyle Hemcher 1-2, 3 R; Gregg Sywlak 1-2, 2 RBI, 3 R.
Lansdale Catholic: Justin Gaumer 1-1, 1 RBI, 1 R; Kyle Diseroad 2-3, 2 R.
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