Box Score

EASTON, Pa. - Trailing 16-2 through three and a half innings of Wednesday afternoon's contest against Penn State, Alex Nickles tried single-handedly to help Lafayette pull off a historic comeback.

The senior outfielder matched his career total with a seven RBI performance, belting a grand slam in the fourth inning and adding a three-run shot in the following frame. That second homer pulled the Leopards within five at 16-11, but they were unable to get any closer as the Nittany Lions ended up with a 20-11 victory.

Nickles, who did not even enter the game until the fourth, hit the first two long balls of his collegiate career while becoming the first Lafayette player to register seven RBIs in a game this century. Jackson Kramer also added three hits for the offense, while Connor Jones struck out four over three perfect innings in relief.

Nick Riotto and Ryan Sloniger each had four RBIs to lead Penn State (17-12), which won its eighth-straight contest. The Nittany Lions did most of their damage in a nine-run third inning, with all of those runs coming with two outs in the frame.

That made the score 13-0 in favor of the visitors. A two-run single from Campbell Lipe got the Leopards on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning, but Penn State added three more unearned runs in the fourth to expand its lead up to 14.

Singles from Connor Macaulay and Michael Coniglio, with a walk to Luke Robinson sandwiched in between, kickstarted a six-run rally for Lafayette in the bottom of the frame. Kramer drove in Macaulay with a single to center, and Nickles cleared the bases after launching a ball well past the left field fence. Alex Woinski then made it 16-8 with a home run of his own to left two batters later.

Jones worked the first of his three innings on the mound in the top of the fifth and became the first Leopard to hold the Nittany Lions scoreless. The freshman right-hander fanned a pair in each of his final two frames to lower his season ERA to 2.38 over 11 1/3 innings.

Lafayette, though, was limited to only one more run over the last four innings, with that single tally coming in on a double play with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. Penn State tacked on four more runs over its last two trips to the plate to get to 20 for the afternoon.

The 32 runs combined was the most in a Lafayette contest this season, and the most in any game since a 19-14 defeat to Albany on March 24, 2001.

David Giusti took his first loss of the season on the mound for the Leopards (9-17), while Nick Distasio worked 4 2/3 innings in relief to improve to 2-0 on the year for the Nittany Lions.

Eighteen different players managed at least one hit. Four Lafayette players had multiple hits, with Woinski and Spencer Rouse joining Kramer and Nickles. Rouse also stole his third base of the year in the second inning.

The Leopards have two days off before welcoming Navy for a key Patriot League four-game series at Kamine this weekend. Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.

Notes:

Nickles entered today's game with seven RBIs in his first 54 games on College Hill.

Kramer picked up his third three-hit game in his past five contests, and his fourth overall on the year.

Lafayette scored double-digit runs in a game for the third time this season. The Leopards are averaging 5.3 runs per game overall.