Baseball vs. R.I.—Team takes a Rhode trip

By Ben Rosehart
Senior Staff Writer
April 12, 2006

Gene Kelly singing in the rain is arguably one of the most famous scenes in cinema history.

But Kelly was holding an umbrella in his hand, not a baseball bat. And he didn’t have to make the trek up to Kingston, R.I. last weekend, like the Explorers did to face the Rams in a three-game series.

La Salle hoped to hear the sound of their bats over the raindrops, but the first two games on Friday and Saturday were rained out. In the Sunday doubleheader, the Explorers started out on a high note, but it was Rhode Island that left Bill Beck Field humming a happier tune.

In the first game, freshman pitcher Ken Elkind out-pitched a major league draft prospect for six innings, and La Salle got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. With Rhode Island’s ace pitcher Stephen Holmes on the mound and a number of major league scouts in attendance, juniors Bill Kern and Rich Prall were able to work back-to-back walks, setting up an RBI single by John Rickards.

But with one out in the seventh, Elkind (2-2) ran into a little bit of trouble. Three consecutive Rams reached base, followed by Zach Zaneski’s RBI double that tied the score at one. Then a costly error in the outfield led to three more Rhode Island runs. That four-run seventh inning proved to be the difference, as the Rams went on to win 4-1 behind eight strong innings by Holmes (5-1), who finished with 10 strikeouts.

Despite being charged with the loss, many of Elkind’s teammates had high praise for his strong overall performance.

“Kenny matched [Holmes] for pretty much the whole game, until the seventh, there was an unlucky bounce over our first basemen’s head to tie the game,” infielder Mike Essery said. “I felt that after that inning, we lost our focus and had trouble making routine plays, and [we] made some mental errors that carried into the second game.”

“I was extremely impressed,” said sophomore pitcher Dennis Burge. “I came in knowing Holmes was being looked at by scouts for the major leagues, and Kenny just came out and threw his game and basically out-pitched a future major leaguer for seven innings.”

What’s more impressive about the pitchers’ duel is that Holmes is a junior who could go in the top 10 rounds in the upcoming MLB draft, while Elkind is just a freshman.

“It shows a lot for his character and [is] a good outlook for the future because they both pitched great games,” Burge said. “It’s just a shame we couldn’t get more going offensively for Kenny who pitched lights out.”

In the second game, which was only seven innings, Rhode Island rattled junior starter Dan Waters (3-4), taking a 4-0 lead they would not relinquish. Senior pitcher John Reifsnyder struck out seven Rams in three scoreless innings of relief, but La Salle could only muster one run for the second straight game, falling 8-1. Kern scored the only run in both games, as the Explorers left a total of 13 runners on base on the day.

“We were disappointed for obvious reasons coming out of the weekend because we felt that after we hung around for most of the first game that the series would be ours for the taking,” Burge said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but we aren’t going to hang our heads.”

After Tuesday night’s Liberty Bell Classic Championship Game against Lafayette at Citizens Bank Park, the Explorers will host the University of Massachusetts for a three-game set beginning this Thursday at 3 p.m.

rosehab1@lasalle.edu