The St. Joe’s-La Salle baseball rivalry has been renewed, but under much different circumstances than before

The La Salle-St. Joseph’s baseball games on Friday and Sunday had all the makings of any game.

But there was one notable absence: the suffocating tension of the rivalry that once existed between the two local Atlantic 10 teams.

Five years ago, when the Explorers and the Hawks last played a series against each other, there were animosity, ejections, and even a benches-clearing brawl.

La Salle, playing its final season in 2021 after the announcement that its baseball program would be cut, wanted to keep its season going and was vying for the final spot in the A-10 tournament. St. Joe’s wanted the same, and ultimately was the one that earned that last bid.

In this series, there was none of that.

Five years have passed and La Salle is in its first year back after announcing its plan to reinstate the baseball program in April 2024. The two teams are in very different positions now.

St. Joe’s, which is 29-14 overall and 19-2 in the conference after sweeping three games against La Salle, sits at the top of the A-10 standings. Hawks coach Fritz Hamburg said it’s one of the best seasons in program history.

La Salle (18-26, 4-17) is rebuilding what once was with Dave Miller at the helm. Miller was also the coach of the Explorers five years ago.

And all of the hatred that was once there in this matchup has been put on ice.

But Hamburg still thinks the rivalry exists, it just has taken on a new form.

“I think the two schools, there’s always a rivalry,” Hamburg said. “It’s Big 5.”

St. Joe’s beat La Salle, 6-5 and a 15-6, in a doubleheader on Friday before closing the series with a 12-2 win in seven innings on Sunday. In the finale, Hawks catcher Blake Primrose went 2-for 4 and scored three runs. Justin Szestowicki and Alec Welshans hit doubled for the Explorers.

But as La Salle endures the growing pains of its rebirth, the results will inevitably change, and the rivalry will gradually be revived.

“I’ve said all along, I’m thrilled that it’s back. As a Philadelphia guy, you can’t have enough programs here,” Hamburg said. “The fact that Dave’s back, when he was here at the end, he’ll get it back up and going pretty quickly. He’s a good coach and good recruiter.”

Miller’s recruiting capabilities allowed him to stay competitive in the transfer portal, helping build the roster La Salle has this season. But that same transfer portal has also played a role in redefining what the rivalry looks like.

While the farthest a St. Joe’s player hails from is Ohio, La Salle has a more scattered mix of players from all over the country, and even one from Japan.

Hamburg said when he first started coaching at St. Joe’s 18 seasons ago, 70-80% of the rosters were local guys. Now, with the landscape of college athletics changing because of the portal, it’s harder to foster familiarity between the players across the two teams as well. But that also means everything can change within any given year.

“But I also think, too, from both of our standpoints, the guys that we do have in our programs recognize the history behind the programs and the value in the education in the schools,” Hamburg said. “So, there’s always going to be Philadelphia, South Jersey flair on the rosters.”

While it’s unclear where the rivalry will end up in the future, or what the two programs will look like next season, the only thing Hamburg knows for certain is that the history between the two programs will always be there and will come into play in some way when they face each other.

“Everybody’s got their own challenges in this day and age of change in the college world. Anything can happen, but there’s always going to be a La Salle [vs.] St Joe’s,” Hamburg said. “It’s a City of Brotherly Love, right? And so it’s a City of Brotherly rivalries too.”

St. Joe’s will take on another local rival Tuesday when it plays at Villanova at 3:30 p.m. La Salle will host Maryland-Baltimore County on Tuesday at 3 p.m.