ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Lafayette baseball team fell in both games of its Sunday doubleheader with Navy, 4-8 and 8-10, in Annapolis.
 
With the losses, the Leopards split the weekend series with the Midshipmen.
 
Senior Ethan Stern led the way in game one for the Leopards, going 1-for-3 and team-high two RBIs. Junior Dylan Minghini led the Leopards with a team-high two hits.
 
Starting pitcher freshman Luke Benneche went 5.0 innings, his longest outing so far of his collegiate career, striking out three.
 
Freshman Justin Grech led the way for the Leopards in game two going 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Sophomore Pete Ciuffreda, Stern and senior Hunter Silvernail each went 2-for-4.
 
Game two starting pitcher freshman Joey Pence went 4.0 innings, striking out a career-high four batters.
 
Navy (10-5, 5-5 PL) jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the second inning but Lafayette (6-11, 5-9 PL) had a big third inning to take the lead.
 
The Maroon and White's third inning started off with a single by sophomore Seif Ingram. Grech then singled to move up Ingram and put runners on first and second. Hartey then drew a walk to load the bases for Stern.
 
Stern doubled to left field, his sixth double of the season, to bring home Ingram and Grech, advancing Hartey to third and pulling the Leopards one run behind the Midshipmen.  
 
Sophomore Pete Ciuffreda was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Two wild pitches by the Midshipmen's pitcher then brought home both Hartey and Stern to put the Leopards in the lead 4-3.
 
Navy added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the bottom of the sixth to take game one of the Sunday doubleheader, 8-4.
 
Navy once again jumped out to a quick lead in game two, putting two runs across home in the bottom half of the first inning.
 
Lafayette and Navy both added two more runs to bring the score to 4-2, in favor of the Midshipmen, heading into the fifth.
 
Freshman Blaze Fadio and Grech both started off the top of the fifth with singles. Fadio advanced to third on Grech's single to put runners on the corners for senior Colin Hartey. Hartey hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Fadio and pull the Leopards within one.
 
Grech then stole second to put himself in scoring position for Ciuffreda who singled, bringing Grech across home plate and tying up the game 4-4.
 
After Navy exploded in the bottom of the fifth for four runs to take an 8-4 lead, the Leopards exploded in the sixth to tie up the game.
 
With the bases loaded, Grech singled to bring home both the runner on second and third, bringing the score to 6-8. Then with the bases once again loaded, a wild pitch by the Midshipmen's pitcher brought home another Leopard to make it 7-8.
 
The bases would be loaded a third time in the inning for Ciuffreda who grounded out to first, bringing home another run and tying up the game.
 
Navy scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Lafayette couldn't answer with runs of its own as Navy closed out the weekend series with a 10-8 game two victory.
 
Up next for the Leopards is a Wednesday midweek game with Lehigh in Bethlehem. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.