March 8, 2014

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Lafayette 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 1 8 12 0 FDU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) 8

TEANECK, N.J. - Backed by Connor Ortolf's gem, the Lafayette baseball team shut down Fairleigh Dickinson 8-0 on Saturday afternoon at Naimoli Family Baseball Complex. Ortolf surrendered one hit over eight innings, while the offense pounded out 12 hits.

The Leopards (3-4) opened the scoring with a pair of runs in their first trip to the plate. Third baseman Tyler Hudson laced a one-out single up the middle prior to Andrew Santomauro's double into the gap in left center to bring Hudson across for the game's first run. A single by Parker Hills moved Santomauro to third base and brought Tim Lazor up with two on and one away. His groundout to second chased Santomauro home and Lafayette led 2-0 going into the bottom of the first.

The two-run cushion was all Lafayette and Ortolf would need. The senior left-hander worked two perfect innings, hit a batter in the third and walked another in the fourth. After a 1-2-3 fifth inning, Ortolf carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth following single runs for the Leopards' offense in the fifth and sixth frames.

The run in the fifth came on Andrew Landolfi's two-out infield single that scored Alex Nickles, who registered a base hit to right to start the inning. Santomauro scored in the sixth on Lazor's RBI single after he led off the frame with a single and stole second and third base.

Leading 4-0, Ortolf ran into trouble in the sixth inning. FDU's Joel Roman was hit by a pitch to start the frame and the Knights had two on with one out following a groundout and a free pass to Shane Siebler. Riley Moonan broke up the no-no with a single to center field, which loaded the bases, before Ortolf got the next two batters to line out leaving the bases juiced.

Fairleigh Dickinson (3-4) starter Logan Frati finished his line with a flawless seventh inning and was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs on 10 hits. Frati fanned two and walked none in seven innings on the mound.

Another 1-2-3 inning by Ortolf in the home half of the seventh kept the score at 4-0 before the Leopards added three more runs in the eighth against FDU's Ryan McGrath. Lafayette scored runs on a hit-by-pitch and a walk in back-to-back at-bats with the bases full. Nickles' sacrifice fly to right put the Leopards ahead 7-0.

Ortolf completed his career day by recording three consecutive outs to end the eighth. He allowed one hit over the eight innings to earn the victory, while walking two and punching out three.

Santomauro's third RBI of the contest ran the final total to eight runs in the ninth, before Trevor Houck tossed a scoreless frame in relief to complete the shutout.

Lafayette resumes its series with FDU tomorrow when the two sides play a doubleheader staring at 1 p.m.