March 27, 2004

Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)

WORCESTER, Mass. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette rolled up 12 runs on 19 hits in a 12-2 win in the opener, but Holy Cross used a walk-off single to claim a 5-4 victory in game two in a Patriot League baseball doubleheader on Saturday.

Lafayette (6-11 overall, 1-1 Patriot League) jumped on the Crusaders (2-7-1, 1-1) early in game one with a six-run second inning. The Leopards, who sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame, tallied four run-scoring singles and a two-RBI double by rightfielder Adam Rosenberg en route to the big inning.

Craig Alexander and Frank Cortazar led off the inning with back-to-back base hits, then moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Rob Fioretti. After Alexander was tagged out at home on a fielder's choice, Eric Vacca and Jeff Rodgers opened the with scoring consecutive RBI singles. Rosenberg then brought the pair home with his double to right. Adam Bucci and Alexander added run-scoring singles before Holy Cross could get out of the inning.

An Ian Law home run in the third inning stretched the Leopard lead to 8-0. Holy Cross had an opportunity to get back in the game in the bottom half, loading the bases with none out, but Marcus Ward surrendered only a single run and the score remained 8-1 after three innings.

In the fourth, Alexander drew a one-out walk and later scored on a Fioretti single, while Law's sac fly to right brought in Cortazar with Lafayette's 10th run. The teams traded RBI singles in the sixth, while a sacrifice fly by Alexander brought in Jason Boyd with the Leopards' final run in the seventh.

Every Lafayette starter collected at least two hits in the opener except Fioretti, who was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Law was 2-for-4, driving in three and scoring three runs, while Boyd was 3-for-5 and scored twice.

Ward allowed six hits, struck out four and walked two while upping his record to 3-0.

The two teams traded offensive outbursts in the second game before the Crusaders' Tom Potvin won it in the ninth.

A hit batsmen and a pair of singles loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the second for Holy Cross. A base hit and a walk brought in Holy Cross' first two runs, while the third crossed the plate as the Leopards were turning a double play.

Lafayette immediately answered with three runs of its own in the top of third. A Rodgers single to left scored Law, while Rosenberg followed with a two-run single to right.

Holy Cross plated an unearned run in the fourth and the Leopards returned the favor with an unearned tally in the sixth. The score remained tied into the bottom of the ninth, despite Holy Cross putting a runner in scoring position in the seventh and eighth and Lafayette in the eighth and ninth.

Jaime Aldrich led off the Crusader ninth with a single, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Following a walk, Potvin smacked a single to center that brought Aldrich home with the winning run.

Eight different players accounted for the Crusaders' nine hits, while Scott Hampe worked the final 1-1/3 innings for his first win of the season.

Rosenberg was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI for Lafayette, while Fioretti added two hits and drove in a run.

The teams get back together for the final two games of the series on Sunday, with the first pitch slated for noon.