Final Stats

SAN ANTONIO – A three-run eighth inning lead for the Lafayette baseball team was lost when Incarnate Word rallied late before claiming a 4-3 win in an 11-inning game on the second day of the Irish Alamo Invitational.

Brett Kreyer got his first collegiate start and pieced together a solid outing for the Leopards (1-2), tossing six scoreless innings of one-hit ball against Incarnate Word (1-2). The rookie fanned three batters and relied on the defense behind him, pitching to contact and inducing eight groundball outs.

Six different Leopards' batters combined for seven hits, including John Selsor, who had the team's lone extra base hit when he belted a double in the fourth.

AJ Kloehn led off the second with a single up the middle and Spencer Rouse got on base on a Cardinals' throwing error. The Leopards then loaded the bases for Dan Leckie after Quinten Bubb singled on a bunt and he flied out to center, allowing Kloehn to tag up and score the first run of the game.

On that same play, Rouse also tagged up and advanced to third before coming in to score on a Steven Cohen sacrifice fly to deep right.

In the bottom half of the third, Bryce Shepherd got a leadoff single for Incarnate Word and advanced to third on a Leopards' fielding error. However, that was as far as he got as Kreyer struck out a pair and got a groundball out to escape the small jam and hold the Cardinals scoreless.

The Cardinals had something brewing in the fifth when they loaded the bases with two outs after Shepherd reached on a fielder's choice and Kreyer issued back-to-back walks. However, the freshman avoided the damage by getting Eddy Gonzalez to fly out to center for the final out of the inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Leopards chased the Cardinals' starter, Bernie Martinez, from the game after Selsor reached on a throwing error and advanced to third once Pat Nelson shot a single into center. Nelson stole second and Kloehn reached on a throwing error by the Cardinals' defense to load the bases for Rouse, who drew a bases loaded walk to put the Leopards' ahead 3-0.

That was all that Lafayette managed to generate though as the Cardinals got a timely double-play ball to get out of the inning.

Kreyer's day was done after he got through the sixth inning and Rob Ewald took his place on the mound. The senior delivered a 1-2-3 seventh inning, but got in trouble in the eighth when the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out and then plated a pair of runs on a Kyler Genenbacher two-RBI single through the right side.

On the very next at-bat for Incarnate Word, the game-tying run crossed the plate when Sean Arnold grounded out to the right side of the infield, allowing the runner at third to score.

The game entered extra innings once the Leopards and Cardinals failed to score in the ninth. In the bottom half of the 11th, Arnold drew a base on balls to start the inning and was moved over on a sacrifice bunt. Shepherd then came up and hit a double down the left field line and Arnold came in to score the game-winning run.

The Leopards and Cardinals will square off again tomorrow at noon on day three of the Irish Alamo Invitational at Sullivan Field on the campus of Incarnate Word.