SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Lafayette College baseball team dropped its series opener against Wofford College, 7-1, Friday.
 
The Leopards were led by junior Seif Ingram who went 2-for-4 with one run and junior Kyle Chmielewski who went 2-for-3. Freshman Easton Brenner recorded the Leopards' lone RBI of the game.
 
Starting pitcher sophomore Luke Benneche went 5.1 innings, striking out three. Junior Jacob Ciccone came in for 1.2 innings of relief and freshman Chase Barley came in for an inning of relief.
 
Lafayette (2-11, 0-0 PL) had the opportunity to get a run across the plate first in the bottom of the first inning after junior Pete Ciuffreda singled to right field with two outs. He then stole second to put himself in scoring position but senior Dylan Minghini popped out to Wofford's (8-7, 0-0 SoCon) shortstop leaving Ciuffreda stranded on base.
 
The Terriers took the lead in the bottom of the third. The leadoff batter was hit by a pitch eventually advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt and an error by the Leopard's first baseman putting runners on second and third.  
 
Wofford then hit a ground out to second base but it was enough to score both runners and give the Terriers a 2-0 lead. The Terriers added another run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-0 lead heading into the fifth.
 
Ingram started off the top of the fifth with a single. The next Leopard batter, freshman Kaleb Willis struck out swinging but a wild pitch allowed Ingram to advance to second. Sophomore Justin Grech then grounded out to the Terrier' third baseman, advancing Ingram to third.
 
Brenner singled to left center to bring home Ingram and cut the Terrier's lead to two.
 
The home team added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-1 lead.
 
The Leopards had a chance to chip away at the Terrier's lead in the top of the ninth after Chmielewski led off the inning with a walk. He then advanced to second on a single by freshman Michael Zarrillo and then to third on a ground out by freshman Carter Dorighi, but Ingram popped out to second base with two outs to end the game securing the 7-1 victory for the home team.
 
Wofford was led by fifth-year Lawson Hill who went 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run and freshman Marshall Toole who went 1-for-3 with one run and two RBIs. Starting pitcher junior Matthew Marchal went 5.0 innings striking out eight.
 
Lafayette continues its three-game series with Wofford on Saturday as the two squads are set for a 2 p.m. first pitch. The final game of the series is slated for Sunday, March 13 at 1 p.m.