EASTON, Pa.  – The Lafayette baseball team had its four-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday afternoon as Rutgers used six runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Leopards, 9-3, at Kamine Stadium.
 
Rutgers (10-19) struck first with a home run to right field in the second inning by Tyler McNamara and scraped another across to jump out to the 2-0 advantage before Lafayette starting pitcher junior Mark Anderson limited the damage with a strikeout and stranded the bases loaded.
 
The Leopards (11-19) answered in the fourth when junior Trey Durrah led off with an infield single and senior Richard Villa followed with a double to put runners on second and third for classmate Dan Leckie. He loaded the bases by drawing a walk and senior Spencer Rouse picked up an RBI with a fielder's choice, scoring Durrah.
 
The big hit in the inning was a base hit up the middle by junior Jake Sniegocki to score Leckie and tie the game at two apiece.
 
Senior David Giusti came in in the third to work a scoreless inning and sophomore Tyler Faccenda followed with two clean innings, allowing just one hit.
 
In the fifth, the Leopards grabbed a 3-2 lead when Villa drove a base hit into right field to score sophomore Michael Landry with two outs.
 
Villa was 2-for-4 on the afternoon with a double and an RBI while Rouse and Sniegocki drove in the other two Lafayette runs.
 
After a scoreless sixth, Rutgers came back to put up a six-spot in the seventh and tacked on an insurance run in the ninth to runaway late.
 
The Leopards return to Patriot League action over the weekend when they travel to West Point to take on Army in a three-game series, with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday at noon and the finale slated for Sunday.
 
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