April 9, 2011

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette baseball team saw a rally fall short in game one against rival Lehigh on Saturday, then jumped out to a big lead en route to salvaging a split of a Patriot League doubleheader at Kamine Stadium.

With the split, the Leopards move to 10-16 overall and 4-2 in Patriot League play. Lehigh now stands at 17-13 on the season with a 2-4 league tally. The two squads will play another twinbill in Easton tomorrow beginning at noon.

Senior catcher A.J. Miller drove in four runs on the day - hammering his eighth home run of the season in the process. Sophomore designated hitter Andrew Ruck had five hits, including a pair of triples in the game two victory. Junior left fielder Bobby Farngoli, sophomore second baseman Kevin Casey and sophomore third baseman Scott Kelleher had two RBI apiece. Ruck, senior first baseman Matt Fenster and senior right fielder Alex Bechta also had RBI for Lafayette.

Lehigh got the board first in the game one with a two-run home run from Billy Goldman in the first inning and an unearned tally - driven home by a sacrifice fly from Brendan McGaheran - in the second stanza to take a 3-0 lead.

The Leopards responded with a run in the bottom of the second. Miller led off with a single and advanced to third on a Fenster double. The Lafayette catcher then came home on a Fargnoli sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Single tallies by the Mountain Hawks in the fourth and fifth innings extended the lead to 5-1 before the Leopards struck again. Junior shortstop Brian Davila reached on a bunt single and took second on an errant throw then moved 90 feet closer to scoring on a Bechta fly out. The RBI came off the bat of Miller, who grounded to shortstop to plate Davila.

After a solo home run by Brendan Pifer gave Lehigh a 6-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning, Lafayette came all the way back to tie the score in the bottom of the frame. Ruck singled to lead off the inning and took second on a balk. He then came around to score on a Casey single up the middle to cut the score to 6-3. After Davila singled and Bechta walked to load the bases with one out, Miller drew a base-on-balls to push another run across. Fenster then grounded out to trim the margin to a single run at 6-5. The Leopards finally drew even on a Kelleher single to force a 6-6 deadlock entering the seventh and final frame.

Lehigh got to junior left-hander Sean McGrath for a pair of runs in the top of the inning, taking an 8-6 lead with the Leopards down to their final three outs.

For the second straight inning, Ruck led off the rally with a single. Casey then walked to put the tying run on base, but Lehigh closer Cory Kent got out of the jam to slam the door on an 8-6 win for the Mountain Hawks.

Despite blowing the save with two runs allowed in the sixth inning, Kent (4-0) got the win for Lehigh. McGrath (2-3) took the loss with two runs allowed on a hit and two walks in 0.1 innings pitched. Senior right-hander Zach Fritz got the start for the Leopards, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits over the first six innings of work. Fritz struck out five batters and walked two.

Junior right-hander Ethan Perro took the hill in the nightcap, and hurled five scoreless innings as the Leopards raced out to a 7-0 lead. The scoring started in the first inning, led off by a walk from senior center fielder Rob Froio. Bechta doubled the speedy lead-off man home with the game's first run and Miller followed with an RBI double to give Lafayette a 2-0 advantage after one inning.

Back-to-back triples from Ruck and Fargnoli led off the second inning and chased Lehigh starter Jayme Edwards from the game. A Casey sacrifice fly gave the Leopards another run and, in the third inning, a solo home run for Miller and an RBI triple for Ruck - his second three-bagger of the contest - ran the advantage to 6-0. Kelleher singled another run home in the bottom of the fifth inning to cap the Leopards' seven-run eruption.

Lehigh finally got on the board in the sixth inning, but the comfortable 7-1 cushion for Lafayette held into the eighth. The Mountain Hawks tacked three runs on the board in that frame to chase Perro from the hill, but junior right-hander Jeff Snell struck out Austin Borden - the potential tying run - to get out of the inning with Lafayette holding a 7-4 lead.

Snell tossed a perfect ninth for his fourth save of the season as the Leopards earned a split of the doubleheader with a 7-4 victory.

Perro (2-2) scattered seven hits and four earned runs over 7.2 innings to earn the win. He struck out five batters and walked three. Snell retired all four batters he faced to record the save.

Edwards (2-2) lasted just one inning for the Mountain Hawks, allowed four runs on four hits. He struck out a batter, walked a batter and committed two costly balks.

Lafayette and Lehigh will play another twinbill tomorrow beginning at noon. The action will be streamed live on LSN All-Access.