Feb. 24, 2007
Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2
FARMVILLE, Va. - The Lafayette baseball team opened the 2007 season in winning fashion, taking a Saturday doubleheader from Longwood University. In the first game, the Leopards won 6-5 in 11 innings when Tom Hayes drove in Daniel Bierce in the top of the 11th. In game two, Lafayette rode the hot bat of Joe Ezekiel and a strong pitching effort from Matt Kamine to earn a 5-2 victory.
In the opener, Lafayette starter Ted Gjeldum threw seven strong innings and left with a 4-2 lead. Lafayette held that advantage into the ninth and owned a 5-4 lead in the 10th.
Lafayette led 3-1 after the fifth inning when Kevin Leasure doubled in James Conrad. Then, in the seventh the Leopards extended their lead to 4-1. Ezekiel's two-bagger scored a run and he finished the game 3-for-5 with three RBI.
Longwood (7-4) cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning and then tied the game in the home half of the ninth. The Lancers scored on a passed ball and an RBI-groundout from Robbie Bailey to knot the game at 4-4 and send the game to extra innings.
The Leopards (2-0) took the lead in the 10th inning. Jeff Butler led off the inning with an infield single and later scored on Ezekiel's base hit to right. Longwood re-tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Bailey singled in a run.
When the game moved to the 11th inning, Bierce reached on an error and later scored when Hayes plated him with a single. In the bottom of the inning, Longwood put runners on first and third with no outs.
Senior Brian Cope, who pitched the 10th inning and walked the first batter of the 11th, was removed for Steve Roberts. Roberts retired one of two batters he faced and then Lafayette head coach Joe Kinney called on sophomore reliever Brian Mostek to close out the game. He struck out the No. 4 and No. 5 batters to collect his first collegiate save. Cope got the win.
In the nightcap, senior captain Matt Kamine threw a complete-game four-hitter and struck out six in a 5-2 victory. Kamine, who had all three of his pitches working, retired the last 14 batters of the game.
In the first, Butler used a sac fly to score lead-off hitter James Conrad who had reached with a single. Tom Ambrosole smacked in a run to give the Leopards the early 2-0 lead.
Kamine gave up a solo home run in the second and Lafayette and Longwood exchanged runs in the third inning. Ambrosole plated Butler with a single and Ezekiel was cut down at home trying to score on the play. Ambrosole finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBI. The Lancers added their run on a sac fly.
Lafayette broke the game open with two runs in the fifth inning. With two outs and a 2-2 count on the scoreboard, Leasure drove a pitch through the right side to score a pair of runs and give the Leopards a 5-2 advantage.
Kamine got stronger as the game progressed, registering four of his six strikeouts in the last four innings of the game, including the last two batters of the game. Kevin Light took the loss for Longwood, surrendering four runs on eight hits.
Weather-permitting Lafayette will return to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. to close out the series.
