March 10, 2012
Box Score
TEANECK, N.J. - The Lafayette baseball team played 20 innings in Saturday's doubleheader at Fairleigh Dickinson, but the marathon day was not enough to settle the weekend series. The Knights took game one, 6-2, and the nightcap ended in a 3-3 tie after 11 innings.
Lafayette, which won the series opener on Friday in Easton, now stands at 4-6-1. Fairleigh Dickinson moves to 2-5-1 on the season.
Andrew Ruck had four hits on the day, including three doubles, while Bobby Fargnoli's RBI two-bagger highlighted his three-hit afternoon. Scott Kelleher and Andrew Santomauro added two hits apiece, and Brad Hopek, Tim Lazor and James McCool each singled. Kevin Casey drove in two runs on a pair of RBI groundouts. Santomauro's straight steal of home in game one highlighted a 4-for-4 day for the Leopards on the basepaths.
The Lafayette bullpen worked 8.2 innings without allowing an earned run in the doubleheader. Right-hander Derek Gussaroff hurled three innings, with his only baserunner reaching on an error, and struck out the last six batters he faced when the nightcap was halted due to darkness. Sean McGrath, Ben Meer, Jack Rems and Jeff Snell also came on in relief in the twin bill. McGrath was the lone hurler from either club to appear in both games.
Starter Ethan Perro allowed four earned runs on five hits and three walks in 5.2 innings of work to take the game-one loss. Perro (1-1) struck out two batters and hit two. McGrath tossed a hitless 1.1 innings of relief and Meer posted a zero to finish the game on the mound for Lafayette.
Connor Ortolf got the ball in game two and tossed the first 4.2 innings. The sophomore southpaw allowed six hits and two earned runs, striking out four batters and walking one.
Fairleigh Dickinson started the scoring in the second inning of game one as Eric Anderson led off the frame with a home run. The Knights looked to turn the roundtripper into a big inning, but Perro pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to hold the deficit at 1-0.
An infield hit by Santomauro off of new pitcher Mike Eliasen started the Leopards' offense in the top of the sixth inning, and Ruck followed with a bunt single. Casey then dropped down a sacrifice bunt and, with the runners now on second and third, Santomauro stole home to tie the score at 1-1.
The Knight struck again in the bottom of the frame, as a walk, single and hit batter loaded the bases with one out. A Shane Siebler sacrifice fly brought one run home, and a triple off the bat of Jordan Ritz scored two more and ended Perro's day on the hill. An error and a balk allowed two unearned tallies to cross the plate. When the final out of the inning was recorded, Fairleigh Dickinson had plated five to open up a 6-1 advantage.
The Leopards rallied in the top of the eighth, led off by Lazor's first career hit. A one-out double from Ruck put runners on second and third and an RBI groundout by Casey ran the score to 6-2. Lafayette would not score again, however, as Eliasen pitched around Hopek's leadoff single in the ninth to close out the win for the Knights.
Despite losing the lead in his first inning of work, Eliasen (1-1) recovered to earn the game-one win for the Knights. Eliasen allowed two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in four innings of relief. Craig Warner scattered two hits and a walk in five shutout innings before exiting with a 1-0 lead. The FDU right-hander struck out three batters.
Lafayette struck first in the nightcap, which was scheduled for seven frames, as first-inning doubles by Ruck and Fargnoli gave the Leopards an early 1-0 advantage. The Knights answered with two runs in their half of the inning on RBI by Justin McClure and Kyle Weeks.
The 2-1 score held up into the fifth inning, when a double from Ruck once again set the Lafayette offense in motion. After taking third on a wild pitch, Ruck came home on a Casey groundout to tie the score.
Brian Davila walked on four pitches with two out in the sixth inning and moved into scoring position on an errant pick-off throw. McCool delivered on the RBI opportunity with a single through the left side that put Lafayette back on top, 3-2.
The Leopards were one out away from sealing the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning with Riley Moonan on second base. But Ritz grounded to third base for an infield hit and, when the throw to first base went wide, Moonan came around to score the game-tying unearned run. Hills and Davila connected to catch Ritz stealing second base and send the game into extra frames.
Fairleigh Dickinson had the best scoring opportunity of the bonus baseball, but McGrath pitched out of a two-on, two-out jam in the eighth to extend the game. Gussaroff took the hill in the ninth and shut down the Knights' lineup, but the Leopards were also unable to scratch out a run against the FDU bullpen. Following Gussaroff's sixth consecutive strikeout to end the 11th stanza, the umpires called the game due to darkness at 5:56 p.m. in the interest of player safety.
Brendan Butler started game two for the Knights, allowing three runs (two earned) in 5.2 innings. He struck out six batters and walked four. The Fairleigh Dickinson bullpen combination of David Marcelino, Eric Snyder and Yonah Perline worked the final 5.1 innings.
The Leopards will head to Florida for five games next week before returning to Kamine Stadium to host Wagner on March 21.
