April 11, 2007
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. - Monmouth scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to pull away to a 14-10 victory on Wednesday afternoon at the Class of 1978 Stadium. The game was called due to darkness with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
There were all the characteristics of a mid-week contest in college baseball, as the two teams combined for 24 runs and 28 hits while 11 pitchers saw time on the mound in a three-hour affair. Coming off Tuesday night's victory over Lehigh in the Liberty Bell Classic championship game, the Leopards were playing their sixth game in the last four days while Monmouth was also playing on back-to-back weekdays.
The Leopards (17-12) put two runs on the board in the first inning as rookie DH Brad Weiss used a sac fly to score one while Kevin Leasure singled home another. In the third, Lafayette extended its lead to 3-1. Leasure scored on an error after doubling to reach base.
Monmouth (16-10-1) answered with five runs in the fourth inning. Justin Braun (single) and Brett Holland (fielder's choice) each drove in a run and Shawn Teters doubled in two more for the Hawks who led 6-3 after three and a half innings.
Lafayette began a middle-inning onslaught with three runs in the home half of the fourth. The Leopards loaded the bases with two outs in the inning and Mike Raible at the plate. Raible connected for a bases-clearing double to knot the game at 6-6.
The winds at Hilton Rahn Field began to pick up and blow out to left-centerfield in the fifth inning. Monmouth took advantage, using a solo home run from Rick Niederhaus and a two-run shot by Chris Collazo to lead 9-6. Niederhaus finished the day 4-for-5 at the plate.
Lafayette scored two more runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Ian McCutcheon singled in Leasure who started the inning with a double. McCutcheon later scored when A.J. Pisarri hit a sac fly to left. Leasure and McCutcheon (2-for-4, 2 RBI) were at it again in the sixth. Leasure's (3-for-5) one-out single scored Raible and McCutcheon smoked a single back through the box to plate Leasure and hand Lafayette a 10-9 lead at the end of six.
Monmouth tied the game in the top of the seventh. A lead-off single and a wild pitch put the speedy Kyle Messineo on second. He scored on Braun's (3-for-5, 3 RBI) single.
The Hawks took control of the game in the eighth, loading the bases with no outs. A passed ball allowed the first run to score and Collazo (groundout), Braun (triple) and Holland (sac fly) all drove in runs off reliever Brian Mostek in the eighth.
Mostek (0-1) took the loss, his first of the season. He allowed four runs on three hits in the one inning he pitched. Freshman Tyler Chromey was the only one of seven Lafayette pitchers who did not surrender a run on the afternoon. Matt Frazier (3-1), who tossed the final two innings, did not give up a run while scattering two hits.
Lafayette will return to Patriot League action this weekend when the Leopards travel to Lewisburg, Pa. for a four-game series between the teams occupying the top two spots in the Patriot League standings. First pitch on Saturday and Sunday is set for noon.
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