WEST POINT, N.Y.  – The Lafayette baseball tacked on some insurance in the ninth inning to take the series finale against Army, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon at Johnson Stadium.
 
Senior Richard Villa gave the Leopards (12-21, 7-6 PL) an early lead, connecting on the first pitch of the second inning and blasting it over the left field wall for his fifth home run of the season.
 
The Black Knights (21-15, 8-5 PL) matched the score with a run in the home half of the second to even the game at one before starting pitcher junior Brett Kreyer worked scoreless innings over the next five frames.
 
During that, Lafayette managed to jump out in front in the fifth when senior Spencer Rouse doubled to open the inning and sophomore Bill Russo walked to set the table for freshman Dylan Minghini's three-run blast to left to make it a 4-1 game.
 
Kreyer ran into some trouble in the eighth, but freshman Frank Craska came out of the bullpen to strand the bases loaded after Army cut the Lafayette lead to one.
 
Kreyer tossed 7.1 innings, matching his career-high nine strikeouts, including striking out the side in the sixth, to move to .500 at 3-3 on the year before Craska tossed the final 1.2 innings to earn his fourth save.
 
In the ninth, Lafayette added insurance as Rouse scored again on a senior Dan Leckie double and freshman Justin Johnson reached on an error that scored Leckie.
 
Rouse has reached base in the last 17 games now, going 3-for-4 with a double and a pair of runs to lead the Leopards offensively.
 
Lafayette will play a midweek Patriot League game Wednesday as rival Lehigh makes the trip to Kamine Stadium for the 150^th Anniversary of Intercollegiate Baseball at Lafayette Celebration with first pitch slated for 3:35 p.m.
 
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