The GW baseball team used strong pitching and hard hitting to sweep La Salle in a three-game series this weekend at Barcroft Park in Arlington, Va. The three wins extended the Colonials’ winning streak to 10 games and vaulted the team past St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph’s and Temple universities in the Atlantic 10 standings just weeks before postseason play.

“I’m obviously very pleased with the weekend,” head coach Tom Walter said. “We had to win all three so we could be in a position to control our own destiny as far as the conference tournament goes and that’s exactly what we did.”

If the season were to end Sunday, the defending conference champion Colonials would finish one game behind Xavier for the final seed in the A-10 Tournament.

GW (29-11, 7-5 A-10) heads to No. 15 Richmond next weekend.

GW 9, La Salle 6
Sunday, April 27
Sophomore southpaw Avi Rasowski pitched GW out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning to help extend the Colonials’ winning streak.

GW’s big offensive surge came in the fourth inning, when sophomore Joe Michalski hit a grand slam, his team-leading ninth homer of the season.

Freshman starter Josh Wilkie gave up three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth before giving way to Rasowski with no outs and the bases loaded. Rasowski forced a double play and a ground out to end the threat, and sophomore Nick Koken came in to earn the save.

GW 9, La Salle 2
Saturday, April 26
Sophomore Dan Sullivan (2-1) pitched a complete game for GW, allowing two runs while striking out eight and walking none. Roberson was perfect at the plate, leading the offense with four hits and three RBIs.

The Colonial bats came alive early, scoring five runs in the first two innings. Michalski hit a solo homer in GW’s three-run second inning.

GW added two runs in the sixth, along with one each in the third and fourth innings to round out the scoring. Roberson got his fourth hit with a solo homer in the sixth, his eighth of the year.

GW 15, La Salle 2
Saturday, April 26
Senior Greg Conden (6-3) had a no-hitter through five innings for GW en route to a five-hit complete game victory. GW’s all-time leader in victories retired the first 12 Explorers in order, while receiving plenty of offensive support.

Senior Travis Crowder led GW with three hits including a grand slam. Freshman Tom Shanley improved his team-leading batting average to .411 with three hits and added three RBIs.

The Colonials’ biggest inning came when they batted around in the third, scoring five runs on four hits.