March 12, 2011
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
COMPTON, Calif. - Despite hits from nine different players and a masterful relief performance by junior southpaw Sean McGrath in the nightcap, the Lafayette baseball team was swept in a Saturday doubleheader by Cal State Northridge by scores of 7-5 and 7-6. The twin bill was played in Compton, Calif. at the MLB Urban Youth Academy.
With the losses, the Leopards fall to 3-7. The Matadors, who were the home team on the scoreboard in the neutral-site games, improve to 10-6.
Senior catcher A.J. Miller continued his torrid pace, hitting a home run and a double en route to three more RBI in the twinbill. The co-captain of the Leopards is batting .395 and slugging .816 with 15 RBI - all team-highs - through Lafayette's first 10 games.
Sophomores Scott Kelleher and Kevin Casey each drove in two runs in the doubleheader, while seniors Rob Froio and Matt Fenster and junior Brian Davila had one RBI apiece. Froio was 4-for-8 with a triple and scored four runs on the day.
McGrath tossed a career-high 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run in the nightcap, scattering three hits and one walk while striking out a career-best 10 batters. Junior left-hander Michael Massa (0-1) started game two and allowed six earned runs on eight hits over the first 2.2 frames.
Junior right-hander John Gentile (0-2) got the start in the first game and surrendered four runs (two earned) on six hits. He was relieved by freshman Connor Ortolf and junior Chris Boyce.
Lafayette got on the board first the opening game, as Froio led off the contest with a single - the first of five times that the Leoaprds' lead-off batter reached in the seven-inning contest - and later scored on a double play.
Single runs in the second and third innings and a pair of tallies in the fourth gave the Matadors a 4-1 advantage which held until the top of the sixth inning. Davila walked and Froio singled to start the inning, and both runners moved 90 feet on a groundout by senior Alex Bechta. After Northridge got the second out of the inning, Miller pounded a double to right field to score both runners and trim the deficit to a single run at 4-3.
What appeared to be a trio of insurance runs in the bottom of the inning turned out to be the difference. Northridge saw its 7-3 lead shrink to 7-5 in the Leopards' final at-bat courtesy of a Casey double and a Davila sacrifice fly. Lafayette would get no closer, however, as Josh Goossen-Brown left the tying run at the plate to close out game one.
Alex Muren (2-0) worked the first five innings, allowed five hits and three earned runs for the Matadors. The two-inning save for Goossen-Brown was his second of 2011.
Lafayette tallied five runs in the first two innings of the nightcap, but Northridge did the same as game two - scheduled for nine innings - ran to a 5-5 stalemate. The Leopards' early RBI came from Kelleher, Miller (solo home run), Casey, Froio and Kelleher again.
Northridge took the lead in the bottom of the third inning and added an unearned tally in the bottom of the fourth to extend its advantage to 7-5. A Fenster sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth pulled the Leopards within a run as McGrath mowed down the Matadors the rest of the way, but Lafayette would pull no closer as Paul Tremlin stranded the tying run at second base to save the game for Northrdige.
Jacob Petersen (2-0) scattered eight hits and two runs (none earned) in 5.1 innings of relief to earn the win in game two. Tremlin earned his first save of the season.
Lafayette took the series opener on Friday, 7-3, at Northridge. The series concludes with a single game on the Matadors' home field at 4 p.m. ET.
