LEWISBURG, Pa. — Lafayette baseball dropped a narrow 9-8 Patriot League decision to Bucknell on Saturday afternoon at Depew Field. The Leopards overcame an early deficit to take a four-run lead in the sixth inning, but ultimately could not hold off the Bison in the final frames.

Lafayette opened the scoring in the third inning when Teddy Cashman launched a solo home run to right field. Later in the frame, Liam Ebbs scored on a wild pitch and Charlie Chropuvka added an RBI-single to give the Leopards a 3-0 lead. Bucknell responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning, plating four runs to take a brief lead, 4-3. Lafayette evened the game at 4-4 in the fourth when Liam Ebbs doubled down the right-field line to score Cashman.

The Leopards regained control with a four-run sixth inning. Matt Colella sparked the rally with an RBI-single, followed by an RBI-groundout from Jack Mislan that brought home Alex Barrist. Chropuvka drove in another run with a single to center, and Bode Grieve scored on a wild pitch to extend the Lafayette lead to 8-4. The advantage was short-lived as Bucknell answered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game once more, 8-8.

The deadlock remained until the bottom of the eighth inning. After Billy Fluharty tripled for the Bison, Michael Chiaravallo delivered a two-out, pinch-hit RBI-double to center field that provided the 9-8 winning margin.

Tyler Hawkins earned the win, throwing 2.1 innings of hitless relief with two strikeouts. Liam Jones secured the save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Wesley Maksimow took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out three, in two innings of work.
 
The Maroon and White will conclude their series at Bucknell on Sunday at 1 p.m.