April 10, 2007
Game 1
Game 2
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Senior Megan Averbuch didn't surrender an earned run and drove in the winning run with a single in the eighth as Lafayette outlasted Fairleigh Dickinson for a 4-3 win in its home opener on Tuesday. Freshman Kasey Karr allowed just three hits in the nightcap as the Leopards won 6-1.
The left side of the infield of shortstop Christina Giambrone and third baseman Sarah Price combined to go 8-for-14 at the plate in the twinbill and had two hits each in both games. Giambrone hit the second home run of her freshman season and Price had a pair of doubles and collected three RBI in the second game.
In game one, the Leopards opened the scoring in the third inning with two runs on five hits. Michelle Ellis led off with a double and scored on a single by Jill Masterton, while Karr singled to score Giambrone with two outs.
FDU got a run in the both the fourth and fifth innings to tie the score at 2-2 by taking advantage of a pair of Lafayette errors in both frames, and the game remained deadlocked into the eighth inning.
The Knights failed on a sacrifice bunt attempt to open the eighth, but Jamie Colvin followed with a single to right that scored Caitlyn Reuter and gave her team a 3-2 lead.
Price started Lafayette's half of the eighth with a bunt single that also moved pinch runner Amanda Parker to third. Kelly Higgins entered the game as a pinch runner for Price and promptly stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Allison LoBello drove a one-out single to left field that scored Parker, and Averbuch followed with a sharp single to center that brought Higgins home with the game-winning run.
Averbuch struck out eight while notching her fifth win of the season and the 25th of her career, which moves her into sole possession of third place on Lafayette's career victories list. She is also just four strikeouts shy of equaling Lauren Belowich '06, who holds the career strikeout record with 316 in her four years at Lafayette.
Lafayette took any potential drama out of the second game early in the contest, as the Leopards scored a pair of runs in the first, third and fifth innings to secure an early lead. FDU starter Trina Fields left after facing just three batters and brought in Ashley Buchanan, who threw the final 4.2 innings in relief of Fields in the opening game.
In the first, Masterton led off with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch, while Kristen Ruckno reached on an error on a sacrifice fly (FDU's second of the inning) which scored Robyn Matchett from third base.
Ruckno doubled high off the fence in center to start a two-out rally in the third. Karr walked to place runners at first and second, and Price doubled to left center to score both runners and give Lafayette a 4-0 advantage.
An RBI double from Lindsay Glidden cut the lead to 4-1 in the fourth, but the Leopards eventually responded with two in the fifth to put the game out of reach. Giambrone hit a towering home run to right center to open the inning, and Price later collected her second RBI double of the game to score Parker from first base, who entered the game as a pinch runner after Karr singled.
Karr improved to 6-7 on the season with her team-leading eighth complete game by giving up just three hits and a walk while striking out five. Buchanan suffered the loss in both ends of the doubleheader and finished the game with 10.2 innings in the circle while giving up five earned runs.
Lafayette will face Holy Cross in a Patriot League doubleheader this weekend, with the first pitch on Saturday scheduled for noon at the Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex.
