The baseball team (11-27 overall, 6-9 Patriot League) faced Army West Point (19-16 overall, 9-5 Patriot League) in a three-game series this past weekend, losing two games and winning one. The Leopards then beat Lehigh University (19-16-1 overall, 6-9 Patriot League) later in the week.
The first game against Army on Saturday started quickly, as the Black Knights jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. The Leopards responded in the second inning by scoring three runs of their own as freshman outfielder Teddy Cashman and junior outfielder Easton Brenner singled to put two runners on base, setting up senior outfielder Justin Grech’s RBI single. Later in the inning, freshman infielder Matt Colella got his first of two hits in the game with a two-run single.
The Black Knights responded in the fourth with five runs that put the game at 9-3, where the final score stayed.
The second game did not start in the Leopards’ favor either, as the Black Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Lafayette responded with a Brenner run in the second inning. In the third inning, junior first baseman Michael Zarrillo blasted a grand slam over the right-field wall to tie the game at five runs apiece. This was Zarrillo’s fourth home run of the season.
Army then started the steamroll in the fifth inning with three runs to push its lead to 8-5. With four runs in the sixth and five in the ninth, the Black Knights won the game 17-5.
Game three of the series on Sunday looked as if it would be a repeat of the past contests as Army jumped to an early 1-0 lead in the first. In the bottom of the second, Brenner scored off an error that tied up the game. Following a single by Colella and a walk by sophomore catcher Ethan Swidler in the third, Cashman hit a double down the right-field line that scored both runners.
In the fourth, the scoring continued for the Leopards. Junior infielder Ben Petrone smoked a solo shot over the fence in right-center for his sixth home run of the year. One run off an error and two off a Brenner single to left field tallied the score at 7-1 in favor of the Leopards heading into the fifth.
The Black Knights responded with one run in the fifth off a bases-loaded walk, but the rest of the game was dominated by the Leopards. The scoring consisted of a two-run double from Cashman and two solo home runs from Swidler and Colella. This was Colella’s first collegiate home run.
The game ended with a score of 12-2 in favor of Lafayette.
After losing to Villanova in an out-of-conference game in the interim, the team returned to form with a victory over Lehigh. The first score of the game came in the third with a double from senior infielder Blaze Fadio that scored two and a sacrifice bunt from Brenner. Lehigh tied up the game with two runs in the bottom of that inning and another in the sixth.
The Leopards showed up in the seventh inning, scoring 10 runs. The onslaught started with a Swidler RBI single and ended with Swidler’s seventh home run of the year, as he blasted a two-run home run to make the score 13-3. Lehigh could not answer, and the game ended in the seventh due to the 10-run rule.
The Leopards will continue their home game stretch this weekend when they face the College of the Holy Cross in a three-game series this Saturday and Sunday.
Three members of the baseball team could not be reached for comment.
