BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lafayette College team dropped its midweek Patriot League contest, 7-4, to crosstown rival Lehigh on Wednesday afternoon at J. David Walker Field.
Lafayette was led by senior
Dylan Minghini who went 2-for-5 with one run, sophomore
Justin Grech who went 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI, and freshman
Carter Dorighi who went 2-for-4 with one run. Starting pitcher junior
Nolan Morr went five innings while junior
Jordan Yoder came in for an inning of relief and junior
Jacob Ciccone came in for two.
Lehigh (18-18, 6-9 PL) took an early 3-0 lead putting a run across the plate in the first, second, and fifth inning.
The Leopards (12-27, 7-8 PL) put their first run across the plate in the top of the sixth. Freshman
Kaleb Willis led off the inning with a double to right center. Freshman
Easton Brenner was then hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Two batters later, Minghini singled to advance both Willis and Brenner. Grech then hit into a fielder's choice bringing Willis across home plate to put the score at 3-1.
The Mountain Hawks added three runs in the bottom of the sixth and one in the bottom of the seventh to put the score at 7-1 heading into the eighth inning.
Minghini and Grech started off the eighth inning with back-to-back singles to try to spark the Leopards' offense. Freshman
Carter Dorighi then walked to load the bases with no outs for junior
Seif Ingram. Ingram reached base on an error by the Mountain Hawks third baseman, advancing all runners and scoring Minghini to put the score at 7-2.
Senior
Evan Kiah then drew a bases loaded walk to bring Grech home. The Leopards next batter, junior
Patrick Vandenbergh hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Dorighi and pull Lafayette within three, 7-4.
The Lafayette Nine's late inning rally fell short as junior
Pete Ciuffreda flew out to left field to end the inning and leave two Leopards on base.
Ciccone was able to hold the Mountain Hawks scoreless in the bottom of the eighth and the Leopards went down in order in the top of the ninth to give Lehigh the 7-4 midweek win.
Lafayette is back in action on Saturday, April 23 as Holy Cross comes to Easton for a three-game series. The Leopards and Crusaders will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m.
