VESTAL, N.Y. - The Lafayette baseball team was defeated by Binghamton in a doubleheader on Saturday at Bearcats Baseball Complex, losing 5-4 and 14-6.
Game one was a pitchers' duel for the first four innings between Lafayette freshman Luke Craytor and Binghamton junior Gabe Driscoll. Craytor struck out four over the first four frames, while Driscoll struck out five.
Lafayette struck first in the top of the fifth. Junior Justin Grech walked with one out, and was followed by sophomore Kaleb Willis who blasted a two-run home run over the left field fence, giving the Leopards a 2-0 lead. It was Willis' first home run of the season.
In the bottom of the fifth, Binghamton scored four runs to take the lead. The Bearcats scored on a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly by junior Mike Gunning and a two-run double by senior Kevin Gsell, giving the Bearcats a 4-2 lead.
The Leopards responded in the top of the sixth. Senior Seif Ingram singled to left field to lead off the inning and was followed by sophomore Michael Zarrillo who drew a walk. Both Zarrillo and Ingram advanced a base on a wild pitch. Senior Kyle Chmielewski lined a single to right center field, driving in both runners and tying the game 4-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, with one out and runners on the corners, sophomore Logan Haskell dropped down a sacrifice bunt that scored Gsell from third and won the game for the Bearcats, 5-4.
Graduate student Tommy Snyder picked up the win for the Bearcats, pitching 2.0 innings, only giving up a hit and striking out two. Junior Adam Bogosian took for the loss for the Leopards, pitching 1.0 innings, giving up three hits, one run and striking out one.
In game two, Lafayette got on the board first just three batters into the game. Senior Pete Ciuffreda belted a 1-1 pitch into the right field bleachers, giving the Leopards a 1-0 lead.
Binghamton responded with three runs in the bottom of the first, an RBI-single by Gunning, another RBI-single by sophomore Devan Bade and a Lafayette error.
The Bearcats added another run in the second on an RBI-single by junior Tommy Reifler and then an RBI-single by junior Kevin Reilly in the third made the score 5-1.
The Leopards came back with a run in the top of the fourth. Ingram tripled to center field and later in the inning Chmielewski ripped an RBI-double to left field, scoring Ingram and making the tally 5-2.
In the bottom of the fourth, Binghamton tacked on two more runs, on RBI-singles by Bade and sophomore Nick Roselli.
Lafayette responded in the sixth. Ciuffreda ripped his second home run of the game, and eighth of the year, over the fence in right field. Ingram followed with a single and then Chmielewski hit a two-run home run to left field, making the score 7-5. The home run was the first of the year for Chmielewski.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Bearcats got a run back on a solo home run by Gunning, bringing the tally to 8-5. Binghamton added two more runs in the seventh and four more runs in the eighth, to take a 14-5 lead.
In the ninth, senior Patrick Vandenbergh doubled to right center field and advanced to third on a balk. Vandenbergh then came around to score on an RBI-groundout by freshmen Ethan Swidler, which made the final score 14-6.
Ryan Bryggman was credited with the win for the Bearcats, pitching 5.2 innings, giving up seven hits and five runs, while striking out seven. Sophomore Chase Barley took the loss for the Leopards, pitching 2.0 innings, giving up seven hits and four runs, while striking out two.
Lafayette is next in action on Wednesday when they travel to Rutgers to take on the Scarlet Knights at 3:30 p.m.
