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Kumpel, Taylor Power Saint Joseph's Baseball Past La Salle, 6-2

Greg Kumpel's two-run blast in the third inning put the Hawks ahead and a two-run double by Kevin Taylor in the seventh helped seal the deal as the Saint Joseph's baseball team earned a 6-2 win over city rival La Salle at Campbell's Field on Tuesday night.

CAMDEN, N.J. - Greg Kumpel's two-run blast in the third inning put the Hawks ahead and a two-run double by Kevin Taylor in the seventh helped seal the deal as the Saint Joseph's baseball team earned a 6-2 win over city rival La Salle at Campbell's Field on Tuesday night.

Jordan Carter notched his first career win, tossing four innings of three-hit ball and striking out two while not walking a batter.

Saint Joseph's (16-30) took a 2-0 lead with two away in the second after Kumpel followed a Kevin Kratochwill single with a titanic home run over the wall in left.

The teams traded zeroes until SJU broke things open in the seventh. Quinn Renner led off with a walk and stole second with one out before Mike Coleman singled to right to score the first run of the frame. Coleman then moved up to third on a pair of wild pitches and, after a Kumpel walk, Taylor came to the plate with runners at the corners. His ball to the gap landed just out of the reach of a pair of Explorers and cleared the bases. The Hawk first baseman then moved up to third on another wild pitch before Joe Cook singled down the right field line to score Taylor and extend the lead to 6-0.

La Salle (25-19) finally broke through in the eighth, posting a pair of two-out runs on singles by Dan Klem and Jeff Flax, but the Crimson and Gray pitching staff shut down the Explorer lineup the rest of the way to ice the victory.

Kumpel finished 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs batted in while Taylor had a pair of hits and drove in two runs of his own while scoring another.

After being hit by a pitch in the first inning, Coleman extended the school's all-time record to 43.

Six Hawk pitchers held the Explorers to just seven hits and issued just three free passes while striking out five.

The Hawks are in action again on Friday afternoon as SJU heads to Ambler, Pa. for a weekend set at Temple. First pitch for game one is set for 2:00 p.m. at Skip Wilson Field.