LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Lafayette College baseball team split its doubleheader with the Bucknell Bison on Saturday, losing game one 3-2 and winning game two 7-2.
 
The Leopards were led in game one by junior Pete Ciuffreda who went 2-for-3 with a solo home run. Game one starting pitcher sophomore Luke Benneche went 5.0 innings striking out five batters.
 
The Lafayette Nine were led in game two by Ciuffreda who went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs and sophomore Justin Grech went 2-for-5 with two runs. Starting pitcher junior Jake Bloss went 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts. Junior Jacob Ciccone came in for three innings of relief, striking out four and earning his third save of the season.   
 
Bucknell (13-16, 9-5 PL) took an early 1-0 lead in game one in the bottom of the first off an RBI single. Two innings later, the Bison added two runs to take a 3-0 lead heading into the fourth inning.
 
Lafayette (11-22, 6-4 PL) got its first run of the day across the plate in the top of the fourth. Ciuffreda started off the inning with a double to left field and then advanced to third on a fly out by senior Dylan Minghini.
 
Two batters later, junior Seif Ingram reached base on a throwing error by the Bison's third baseman and Ciuffreda came home to score cutting the Bison's lead down to two runs.
 
Ciuffreda hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth to pull Lafayette within one run of the Bison, but the home team's defense got the Leopards in order in the top of the seventh to secure the game one victory.
 
Lafayette struck first in the second game of the day after Ciuffreda got the Leopards' bats going with a two out single. Minghini then singled to advance Ciuffreda to second putting runners on first and second.
 
Freshman Carter Dorighi then doubled down the left field line to plate Ciuffreda and put Lafayette up 1-0. Ingram then singled to right field to score both runners and put Lafayette up 3-0.
 
The Bison put a run across home plate in the bottom of the third to put the score at 3-1. The Leopards answered with two more runs in the top of the fifth push their lead to 5-1.   
 
The home team added one more run in the bottom of the sixth to pull within three runs of the Leopards.
 
Grech singled with one out in the top of the ninth to spark another scoring rally for the Leopards. Freshman Easton Brenner than flied out to left field advancing Grech to second base. Ciuffreda then hit an RBI single to bring Grech home and put Lafayette in the lead by four, 6-2. A batter later, Minghini doubled to bring home Ciuffeda and give Lafayette a 7-2 lead.
 
Ciccone and the Leopards defense was able to hold the Bison scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to secure the 7-2 win.
 
The Lafayette Nine is back in action on Sunday to close out the weekend series in Lewisburg with a single game against the Bison. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.