April 6, 2014

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

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army took an early lead it never relinquished in a 9-1 final on Sunday afternoon at Johnson Stadium. The win helped the Black Knights sweep the doubleheader and weekend series from Lafayette.

The home side jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Lafayette starter Ari Kaufman, who was making his second start of the season. Kaufman had two outs with leadoff man Jon Crucitti at third base after he started the inning with a single. A steal of second and a groundout moved him 90 feet from home before Kris Lindner singled to put the Black Knights on the board. Alex Jensen followed Lindner with a single and an error in the outfield allowed him to score from second after the base hit. With Jensen on second, Kaufman punched out Jacob Page to limit the damage at two runs.

Andrew Santomauro's single to begin the game was Lafayette's lone base hit in the first three innings against Army starting pitcher Brock Davidson. The hit increased the senior centerfielder's hitting streak to 10 games, which is the longest by a Lafayette player this season. After reaching safely in the first, Santomauro was erased on a double play.

Army's lead held at 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Cadets pushed three runs across the dish and chased Kaufman (0-3) from the contest. Lindner (single) and Jensen (double, RBI) reached consecutively to open the sixth and brought Connor McMahon into the ballgame. A groundout and a walk put runners on the corners for Patrick Mescher, who sacrificed himself and allowed Jensen to score from third. Ben Smith's RBI single increased the lead to 5-0 after six full innings.

Kaufman completed his effort with a career-high seven strikeouts, but gave up four earned runs on eight hits. He did not walk a batter.

Army (20-9, 5-2 Patriot) added to its advantage with three runs off McMahon in the seventh and pushed across an insurance tally in the eighth off freshman Trevor Houck. Lafayette's run came with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth and one out when Jackson Kramer reached on a fielder's choice that let Matt Lawrence come in from third. Lawrence was hit by a pitch to start the inning.

The Leopards (7-16, 1-5 Patriot) return to the diamond on Tuesday when they host Villanova at Kamine Stadium. First pitch against the Wildcats is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.