*The Leopards and Black Knights are set for a best of three game series this weekend in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals. Lafayette enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed while Army enters as the No. 2 seed.
*Saturday's games are slated for a 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. first pitch in West Point. Sunday's game will only be played if Saturday's games are split. Sunday's deciding game three is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch in West Point.
*Lafayette closed out its 2021 regular season going 3-1 against Bucknell, sweeping both games in Lewisburg on Saturday and dropping a single game in Easton on Sunday. The Leopards are entering this weekend's series with a 13-15 overall record and a 12-13 record in Patriot League action.
*Junior
Justin Johnson, freshman
Justin Grech and sophomore
Pete Ciuffreda all received Patriot League postseason honors announced by the league on Wednesday. Johnson was selected to the league's first team while Grech and Ciuffreda were selected to the league's second team.
*Grech leads the Leopards in batting average (.300), runs scored (27) and triples (2), and is tied with Johnson and Ciuffreda in hits (27). Ciuffreda leads the team in RBIs (25) and total bases (41), senior
Ethan Stern leads the Maroon and White in doubles (9) and freshman
Blaze Fadio leads the team in home runs (4). On the mound, freshman
Luke Benneche leads the pitching staff in ERA (4.79), sophomore
Jordan Yoder, junior
Jake Bloss and junior
Kyle Subers all lead in wins (3) and sophomore
Nolan Morr leads in saves (4). Bloss leads the staff in innings pitched (33.1) and Yoder leads in strikeouts (36).
*Nationally as a team, the Leopards are 74
th in stolen bases (50) and 18
th in stolen bases per game (1.79). Individually, Subers is 44
th in the nation in complete games (2), Grech is 22
nd in runs per game (1.17), Stern is 69
th in stolen bases (15) and 22
nd in stolen bases per game (0.54), and Johnson is 33
rd in stolen bases per game (0.39).
*In the Patriot League the Leopards are first in stolen bases per game (1.79), second in stolen bases (50) and third in doubles per game (1.64), on base percentage (0.369) and scoring (5.7). Individually, Grech is tied for second in base on balls per game (0.74), first in runs per game (1.17) and third in stolen bases per game (0.39), Subers is tied for second in complete games (2), Stern is second in doubles per game (0.32), first in on base percentage (0.463), first in stolen bases (15), first in stolen bases per game (0.54), Morr is tied for first in saves (4), and Johnson is second in stolen bases per game (0.50) and tied for second in stolen bases (12).
*The Leopards appearance in this season's tournament marks the teams second-straight tournament appearance and their ninth overall Patriot League Tournament appearance. In 2019, they entered the tournament as the fourth seed and fell to No. 1 Navy in two games in Annapolis. The Leopards last appearance in the tournament championship was 2009.
*Army closed out its 2021 regular season with a 24-21 overall record and a 13-10 record in Patriot League action. The Black Knights wrapped up their 2021 spring Patriot League regular season action going 1-2 in a three-game series with Navy, winning the first game 6-1 and then dropping the next two games 7-8 and 5-10. They closed out their 2021 spring season splitting a doubleheader on Tuesday with the University of Rhode Island, winning game one 8-1 and dropping game two 5-9.
*The Black Knights are led by sophomore Ross Friedrick who is batting .348, senior Jeremiah Adams who leads the team in runs scored (340 and doubles (12), senior Anthony Giachin who leads the team in hits (47), triples (5) and total baes (75), freshman Sam Ruta who leads the team in RBIs (32) and junior Nick Manesis who leads the team in home runs (5). On the mound sophomore Brian Dawson leads with a team-low 1.86 ERA. Freshman Connelly Early and freshman Tanner Gresham both lead the way in wins (4), sophomore Robbie Buecker leads in innings pitched (49.1) and junior Anthony LoRicco leads in strikeouts (50).
*Army had this year's Patriot League Rookie of the Year in Ruta and Defensive Player of the Year in senior Tim Simoes. Both were also named to the league's First Team along with Giachin. Five other Black Knights ( LoRicco, Early, sophomore Kevin Dubrule, Manesis and Friedrick) were named to the league's Second Team.
*Army leads the season series with Lafayette 5-2 and the all-time series 100-67-2. The Leopards last win was April 24, 2021 when the Leopards won 4-2 in West Point.
