March 21, 2002

Box Score

EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette broke open a one-run game with an eight-run explosion in the eighth inning en route to a 13-5 victory over Penn in non-conference baseball action on Thursday.

Vince D'Angelis belted two doubles in the eight-run inning for the Leopards who improve to 7-4.

Lafayette took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a solo home by Jason Boyd. Boyd's one-out shot to right was his first of the season and helped the Leopards hold the lead the entire game.

Meanwhile, Lafayette starting pitcher Joe Saporetti cruised through the opening three innings. He faced just 11 batters in the span and managed four strikeouts as he improved to 3-0 on the season with a 2.00 ERA.

Lafayette took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. With two runners in scoring position and no outs, Matt Tambellini hit into 6-4-3 double play, allowing Adam Rosenberg to come plateward. Penn (3-8) cut the lead in half in the top of the next inning with a lead-off home run by Mike Goldblatt that made it 2-1.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, an RBI-groundout from Tye Gonser and a double by Boyd helped give Lafayette a 5-1 advantage. Lafayette added a third run in the inning on a fielding error.

Saporetti, who earned the win while allowing five hits in six innings, gave way to the lefty Tambellini in the top of the seventh. Tamebllini gave up two runs on a pair of RBI-singles by Nick Italiano and Steve Glass. Hank Fichtner came on in relief of Tambellini and induced a fly out to end the inning with the Leopards leading 5-3.

Penn further sliced the margin with a run in the top of the eighth off reliever Kevin Swords. No. 9 hitter Evan Sobel made it a 5-4 game with an infield single.

The home half of the eighth inning put the Leopards in control. D'Angelis led off with a double and pinch hitter Russ Giglio followed with a single. Freshman first baseman Justin Hayden drove home both of them with a single to center. Gonser plated two more runs with a single to center and chased Penn Starter Andrew McCreery from the game with one out in the inning. Boyd added an RBI-single and D'Angelis and Craig Alexander both contributed run-scoring doubles in the eight-run inning. Twelve Lafayette batters came to the plate and cranked out seven hits in the inning.

Boyd finished the day 3-for-5 with three RBI while D'Angelis managed a 3-for-4 day with two RBI.

Swords allowed one Penn run in the top of the ninth on a Glass home run, but earned his first save of the season.

McCreery took the loss, allowing 11 runs (8 earned) on nine hits in 7.1 innings.

Lafayette returns to action on Saturday vs. Illinois-Chicago in the first game of the Leopards'six-game training trip to Homestead, Fla. Lafayette will also face Ohio State, Harvard and Florida International.