Sunday, April 26
Easton, Pa.
12 p.m.
Lehigh University
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Lafayette
11-21-1, 0
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Lehigh
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Sunday split propels Lehigh to No. 2 seed in Patriot League Tournament
4/26/2015 5:50:00 PM | Baseball
EASTON, Pa. – The Lehigh baseball team rebounded from a 3-0 game-one loss by battling for a 5-3, 10-inning win in the nightcap of a Sunday doubleheader at rival Lafayette. The Sunday split secures the 3-1 series win over the Leopards. Due to Sunday's results in other league action, Lehigh will be the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will host No. 3 Holy Cross in the semifinal round May 9-10 at Legacy Park.
"Our objective was three-fold this weekend and we wanted to first get in the playoffs and then hopefully move up a seed," said head coach Sean Leary. "Most importantly, when you play your rival head-to-head you can throw away all that other stuff and it's a great memory for the team to know they beat Lafayette. We played very indicative of who we are today and that's the type of effort we'll need in the playoffs."
This marks the second-straight year Lehigh will be appearing in the postseason and the Mountain Hawks will be hosting tournament action for the first time since 2010. Lehigh wraps up league play with a 12-8 record, as does Holy Cross, but since the Mountain Hawks won the regular-season series against the Crusaders 3-1, Lehigh wins the tiebreaker and earns the No. 2 seed. Navy holds down the top seed, while Lafayette controls the four seed.
Sophomore Jacen Nalesnik led Lehigh offensively for the day with a 4-for-8 showing at the plate, while senior Justin Pacchioli went 4-for-9. Sophomore Patrick Donnelly and senior John Elson drove in Lehigh's go-ahead runs in the top of the tenth inning in the Mountain Hawks' extra-inning win, while senior Jordan Smith threw four scoreless innings to earn the win and sophomore Connor Donovan picked up the save.
After two scoreless innings in the day's second game, a nine-inning contest, Lehigh was able to strike first as Pacchioli led off the third frame with a single through the left side before Nalesnik followed with one of his own. Junior Mike Garzillo then roped a double to left center to give Lehigh a 2-0 lead. Sophomore David Young followed with a single to left to score Garzillo and give the Mountain Hawks a 3-0 advantage through two and a half.
Lehigh senior starter Nick Macaione kept the Leopards hitless for the first three innings of the nightcap. Lafayette was only able to scatter two hits in the next two frames before finally getting to Macaione in the sixth. The Leopards used three hits and two walks to plate three runs and tie the game, but Smith recorded the final two outs of the inning to limit the damage.
Smith kept the Leopards off the board for the rest of regulation, but Lehigh couldn't get anything off Lafayette relievers Mitch Leeds and Connor McMahon as the game moved into extra innings with the score knotted at three.
Pacchioli led off the top of the tenth with a base hit to center field before Nalesnik laid down a perfect bunt single. Pacchioli moved to third on a Garzillo fielder's choice before Donnelly sent a sacrifice fly to deep left field to give Lehigh a 4-3 lead. The Mountain Hawks added an insurance run when Elson smoked a single to center and Garzillo scored from second to put Lehigh ahead 5-3.
The Leopards were able to load the bases with one out in the top of the ninth, but Connor Donovan came in to record the last two outs to earn his second save of the season and secure the 5-3, 10-inning win. Smith earned the win after throwing four scoreless frames while scattering just three hits.
Senior starter Nick Stephens retired the Leopards on just eight pitches in the first inning of the day's first game, a seven-inning affair. Lafayette's Tyler Hudson sent a one-out triple to right center in the second before Luke Robinson laid down a bunt single and the Leopards executed the squeeze play to plate the game's first run and take a 1-0 lead through two innings.
Lehigh was only able to scatter two hits off Lafayette start Toby Schwartz through the first three innings. The Leopards used a pair of two-out runs to extend their lead to 3-0 in the bottom half of the third.
Stephens kept the Leopards off the board the rest of the way and stayed in to hurl the complete game, but Lehigh wasn't able to get anything off Schwartz as the Leopards earned the 3-0 victory.
Stephens finished with a line of three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in a full six innings.
Next up for Lehigh is a trip to Iona Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Schwartz, T. (3-3)
L: Stephens, Nick (2-4)
Base Running:
SB: Pacchioli, Justin 1 ; Garzillo, Mike 1
HBP: Garzillo, Mike 1
Batting:
2B: Lipe, C. 1 ; Schwartz, T. 1
3B: Hudson, T. 1
RBI: Lipe, C. 1 ; Schwartz, T. 1 ; Robinson, L. 1
SH: Lipe, C. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Coniglio, M. 1 ; Lipe, C. 1 ; Hudson, T. 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
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0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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