NEWARK, Del. – The Lafayette baseball team defeated Delaware, 4-2, behind a 10-strikeout performance from junior Joe Skapinetz on Saturday at Bob Thomas Stadium.

In the bottom of the second, Lafayette struck first. Junior Michael Zarrillo walked to start the frame, and a sacrifice bunt by junior Ethan Young moved Zarrillo into scoring position. The next batter, sophomore Ethan Swidler, slashed a single down the left field line on a 3-2 pitch, scoring Zarrillo and giving the Leopards a 1-0 lead.

Delaware countered in the bottom of the inning, when Aiden Stewart hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score the Blue Hens' first run of the game. The next batter, Joey Loynd, lined an RBI-single to center field to give the Blue Hens a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the fourth, the Leopards went on the attack. Young and Swidler walked to start the inning. Both runners advanced on a passed ball, and Young then scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, sophomore Charlie Chropuvka ripped a double to right field, scoring Swidler and giving the Leopards a 3-2 lead. Two batters later, freshman Matt Colella hit an infield single to shortstop that scored Chropuvka, and extended the Lafayette lead to 4-2.

After the top of the fourth, Lafeyette's pitching took over, not allowing a run for the next six innings. Freshman Tristan Helmick got the start for the Leopards, pitching 3.1 innings, giving up two hits, two runs and striking out three. He was relieved by Skapinetz, with one out in the fourth. Skapinetz pitched nearly flawlessly over the next 5.2 innings, allowing no hits, no runs, striking out 10 while retiring 16 of the 19 batters that he faced and securing a 4-2 win for the Leopards.

Skapinetz collected the win for Lafayette, while Tyler August took the loss for Delaware.

The Leopards conclude their series with the Blue Hens on Sunday at 1 p.m.