March 9, 2010
Box Score
FLEMINGTON, N.J. - The Leopards are still in search of their first win of the spring as they fell 14-9 to Rider at the Jack Cust Baseball Academy in Flemington, N.J.
Lafayette (0-7) used seven pitchers in the game who combined to give up 14 runs. Rider (5-3), meanwhile, used a 19-hit effort to score 14 runs. The two teams combined for five home runs, with the Broncs accounting for three of them.
Leftfielder Brad Weiss led the team with three hits while Matt Hall and rookie pinch hitter Scott Kelleher recorded the first two homers of the season for the Leopards.
Corey Shea, seeing his first action of the spring, had a rocky first inning. He gave up a one-out, two-run homer to Mason Heyne and John Ralston came through with a RBI double with two men out to make it 3-0 and his day was one after one inning.
Hall quickly got back two of those runs with a two-run bomb to nearly straight-away centerfield to cut the Broncs' lead to one.
An error led to another Rider run in the second but a Matt Fenster sac fly in the bottom half of the inning kept it a one-run game (4-3).
Reliever John Gentile, who took the mound in the second, was also plagued by the long ball, as he surrendered a two-run shot to Matt McCollum in the third for a 6-3 Rider lead.
The Broncs' second error of the afternoon allowed A.J. Pisarri to score after reaching base on a double to keep Lafayette within two (6-4) after three.
Lafayette loaded the bases with one out in the fourth and a groundout and wild pitch knotted the game at six-all.
A solo shot off the bat of Nick Wojnowski in the top of the fifth put Rider up 7-6 and forced head coach Joe Kinney to call on his bullpen for the second time, bringing in lefty Sean McGrath.
The sophomore gave up a two-run single to Eric Woodrow and a RBI single to A.J. Albee and gave way to rookie reliever Kevin Casey. Casey retired the final batter of the inning and the Leopards went into the bottom half of the inning down 10-6.
The Leopards added a run in the seventh when Adam McMahon scored on a two-base error on Kelleher's pinch-hit single to right field, making it 10-7 after seven innings of play.
Sophomore Ian Dickson entered the game to pitch the final inning. He loaded the bases with one man out and gave up a RBI single to Matt McCollum, a two-RBI single to Adam Wayman and another RBI single to Masne Heyne before Kinney called on Derek Gussaroff with two outs.
Gussaroff struck out the only batter he faced and Lafayette headed into the bottom of the ninth down 14-7.
Kelleher came up with another clutch hit, this time a two-out, two-run blast to straightaway center, cutting it to 14-9 but that remained the final score as the final batter was retired by Rider.
Lafayette travels to Seton Hall to take part in the Strikeout Cancer Tournament for three games, beginning Friday at 3:30 p.m. against the Pirates.
