March 28, 2010

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - The Leopards split their Sunday doubleheader with Penn to take three games from the Quakers in the four-game weekend series.

Lafayette came from behind to take the first game, 9-8, before falling 14-3 in the series finale. The Leopards used 10 hits in the opening game to overcome an 8-4 deficit but could only muster seven hits and three runs in the second game.

Rob Froio finished with five hits on the day, including his first career home run, to go along with three RBI and a run scored.

Lafayette took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of action thanks to two hits and a Penn error. Kevin Casey and Matt Hall had back-to-back singles to send home the two runs and give Gentile a two-run cushion.

The Quakers got back both runs plus three more the very next inning as they knocked John Gentile around for five hits. James Mraz had the big hit with a two-run double to left field that made it 4-2.

Lafayette cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the third when Justin Shepherd used a bases-loaded sac fly to score Hall.

Gentile allowed another run in the fourth on a RBI single that made it 6-4. Ian Dickson came on in relief in the fifth and Penn tacked on two runs on a Tom Grandieri two-run homer to left center.

Trailing 8-4 heading into the fifth, the Leopards erupted for five runs on four hits and capitalized on three Penn errors. A.J. Miller's RBI double scored the first run but Froio had the big blow in the inning. He knocked his first career home run, a three-run blast, to left field that tied the game at eight-all and Hall sent home the go-ahead run on a RBI single.

Sean McGrath came in to close out the game and retired Penn in the sixth and seventh to preserve the 9-8 Leopard victory.

Runs were harder to come by in the series finale. Kevin Casey, who was making his first career start, lasted 1.2 innings and gave up four runs, all of which came in the second inning. Mike Mariano accounted for three of those runs with a three-run homer.

Jeremy Atkins pitched the next 2.2 innings and gave up eight runs on five hits. A leadoff error by Shepherd started the third inning off on the wrong foot and helped lead to two more runs that made it 6-0.

Lafayette pulled within four (6-2) in the fourth on two fielder's choices that led to two runs, but a six-run fifth by the Quakers, all off Atkins, put the game out of reach.

The Leopards travel to Delaware on Tuesday in the first game of the Liberty Bell Classic before returning home on Wednesday to host NJIT at 3 p.m.

Postgame Note:
- With two hits in game one and another in game two, Matt Hall extended his hit streak to 19 games, dating back to May 6 of last season. Entering the weekend, he was tied for the 14th-longest hit streak in the nation.