EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette baseball team defeated Holy Cross in both games of the doubleheader on Sunday to earn the sweep and open up Patriot League action a perfect 3-0.
The Leopards won the first game 4-0 and the second game 11-9.
In game one, the Leopards were led by sophomore pitcher
Jake Bloss who threw 5.2 innings, striking out six and earning his first win of the season. Sophomore
Nolan Morr came in for 1.1 innings of relief, striking out two and earning his first save of the season.
The two combined for a no-hitter, marking the first no-hitter for the program since 2004 when Tom Soldan threw a no-hitter against Holy Cross.
Offensively for the Leopards, junior
Colin Hartey led with a team-high two hits while junior
Dylan Minghini led with a team-high two RBIs.
In game two freshman
Justin Grech was at the top of the scoresheet for the Leopards, recording two hits, two runs and four RBIs. Sophomore
Kyle Chmielewski notched four runs, two hits and one RBI and sophomore
Patrick Vandenbergh recorded two hits. Starting pitcher junior
Kyle Subers put in five innings of work, striking out five and earning his first win of the season.
After a strong first inning by Bloss, the Leopards (3-0 PL, 4-1) threatened to get on the board first in the bottom of the second in game one. Hartey started off the inning by reaching first on a Crusader (0-3 PL, 0-4) error to get himself on base before sophomore
Seif Ingram singled to advance Hartey, putting runners on first and second. But the Maroon and White couldn't get one across the plate as Chmielwski struck out swinging and Vandenbergh grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The Leopards broke through the Crusaders defense in the bottom of the third. Senior
Ethan Stern drew a walk and then stole second to put himself in scoring position. Sophomore
Pete Ciuffreda then doubled to bring Stern home, putting the Leopards up 1-0. Minghini then hit his first home run of the season, with Ciuffreda on base, to put the Leopards up 3-0.
The Maroon and White added one more run in the bottom of the fifth to put the score at 4-0.
Holy Cross threatened to put a run on the board in the top of the sixth but, with runners on first and second, Morr came in to relieve Bloss and get the third out of the inning. He would then close out the game, getting the Crusader batters in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the game one victory.
Lafayette got on the board quickly in the second game, going up 1-0 in the bottom of the first after Stern singled with Grech on second and junior
Justin Johnson on first, bringing home Grech.
In the bottom of the second, with runners on second and third, Grech singled to clear the bases and put Lafayette up 3-0. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Ciuffreda drew a walk to bring home the runner at third and put the Leopards up by four.
Lafayette added two more runs in the bottom of the third and four more in the bottom of the fourth to go up 10-0.
The Crusaders answered in the top of the sixth, loading the bases and driving in their first run of the second game off a sacrifice fly to center field to make 10-1. They then added four more runs in the top of the seventh to cut the Leopards lead in half and then added two more in the eighth inning to pull within three.
The Maroon and White added one more run in the bottom of the eighth to bring the score to 11-7.
The Crusaders added two more runs in the top of the ninth to make it 11-9 before Morr came in to close out the game and secure the second game victory and series sweep for the Leopards.
Up next for the Leopards is a two-game home midweek series with Kansas on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games are slated for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch and will be streamed on ESPN+.
