March 15, 2004
Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - San Francisco State used a seven-run third inning to claim a 12-3 victory over Lafayette in non-conference baseball action on Monday at Maloney Field.
The Lafeyette offense was ready to go in the first inning. A lead-off infield single by senior Adam Rosenberg opened the inning. Rosenberg was running on a hit-and-run play when classmate Jason Boyd doubled to right center to score him and give Lafayette a 1-0 lead.
Rosenberg and the Leopards struck again in the third inning, as he lifted a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left center to give Lafayette a 2-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as San Francisco State batted around its lineup to score seven runs in the bottom of the third inning. After cruising through the first two innings, Lafayette starter Tom Soldan hit the first batter of the inning and then gave up six straight hits. Kris Gibson and Shane Stover each drove in two runs with doubles. San Francisco State (14-12) followed that with a pair of bunt singles and a sac fly that left the score at 7-2.
Soldan (1-1) left the game in the bottom of the fifth, replaced by Brandon Ripley. Soldan threw four innings, allowing eight runs (six earned) on 11 hits. He struck out two and did not issue a base on balls in his third start of the season.
Rich Daly (3-for-3) added a home run over the rightfield fence in the fourth inning, his sixth of the season that gave the Gators an 8-2 lead. They followed that with a Gibson grand slam in the bottom of the sixth off Ripley that gave San Francisco State a 12-2 margin. Ripley threw two innings and allowed four runs on four hits. Freshmen John Fugett and Matt Kamine each threw a scoreless inning in the seventh and eighth and combine to allow just one hit.
In the Lafayette seventh the Leopards scored their final run. Freshman Frank Cortazar, who earned his first start of the season, reached on an error. The Leopards then loaded the bases with one out following a Ted Kramer walk and Tripp Williams' single. Lafayette scored its only run of the inning on a wild pitch that allowed Cortazar to cross home to make final 12-3.
Chris Brown (3-1) earned the win for San Francisco State after throwing six innings while allowing two runs on seven hits.
Lafayette (3-6) returns to action on Tuesday in the first game of a two-game series with the University of San Francisco Diamond Dons. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. PST.
