April 6, 2000

Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - A four-run ninth inning rally from the hosts saw Lafayette fall short, narrowly losing to Moravian, 15-14, in non-conference baseball action on Thursday at Metzgar Fields.

For the second-straight game, the Leopards found themselves in a hole early. Lafayette freshman starter James Duer (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) allowed six Moravian runs over the first two innings. In the Moravian first, Joe Pochran brought home Michael Abbate on a fielder's choice. The big blow in the inning came from Bob Frey who cracked a two-out, two-run homer to left center to give Moravian a 3-0 lead.

The Leopards responded with a run in the bottom of the first, when sophomore Tye Gonser (The Dalles, Ore./The Dalles), who originally reached on an error, scored on another Moravian error. Moravian added three more to its run total in the second inning, on an RBI-double by Abbate and RBI-singles from Mike Gill and Joe Pochran.

Lafayette got its offense going in the bottom of the inning. Sophomore Jason Moll (Montville, N.J./Newark Academy) brought home two runs with a one-out double to center. The Leopards added their final run of the inning on an infield single by Vince D'Angelis (Montvale, N.J./St. Joseph Regional).

Lafayette and Moravian each scored two runs in the fourth. Moravian got on the board with a two-run double to right from Jarrett Hughes. Lafayette's runs came on a two-run homer from D'Angelis, his second of the season. D'Angelis finished with a 5-6 day at the plate.

Moravian tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI single from Abbate. Abbate finished with a 4-5 day at the plate, including three runs scored from the lead off position. The Greyhounds scored three more in the sixth on an RBI-single from Paul Block, a fielder's choice from Gill and a botched attempted to cut down a runner stealing second, while the runner on third came home.

Moll tripled to center to lead off the home half of the sixth. D'Angelis singled him home and would later score on an RBI single from the bat of freshman Matt Tambellini (Millville, N.J./Sacred Heart). Lafayette scored again in the seventh, when D'Angelis singled home Russ Giglio (Old Forge, Pa./Old Forge), who had singled and stolen second earlier in the inning. The runs cut the Moravian lead to 12-9 at the end of seven.

The teams traded runs in the eighth inning. Bill Quinn homered to left to account for Moravian's run, while Jon Kline (Hingham, Mass./Thayer Academy) doubled home Tambellini to make the score 13-10.

In the ninth, Moravian scored what would be the winning run on a two-run homer from Bob Frey, given up by Lafayette reliever Mike Palos (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic).

Lafayette scored four runs in its last at-bat. The Leopards' first two runs came plateward with a bases-loaded walk and hit batsman to make it 15-12. Freshman Brad Drake (East Stroudsburg, Pa./East Stroudsburg) brought the Leopards within one with his two-out, two-run single to right. The game ended, however, when Moll hit a deep fly ball that was reeled in by the left fielder.

Jerry Coveney got the mound win for Moravian, pitching three innings while allowing four runs (three earned). Duer was saddled with the loss, as he gave up six runs (four earned) to the 14 batters he faced over the first two innings of the game.

Lafayette (5-16) returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Lehigh for a Patriot League doubleheader beginning at Noon.