EASTON, Pa. – Freshman Grant Lamberton (Newark, Del./Salesianum) went 5-for-5, and Jeff Singer (Riverton, N.J./Gloucester C.C./Holy Cross) won his third straight start as Monmouth University baseball defeated Lafayette on Wednesday afternoon, 9-2. The Hawks improve to 12-19, while Lafayette falls to 11-23 on the year.
Singer worked six innings, allowing a run on six hits, walking nobody and striking out four. Singer worked his scoreless innings streak to 17 before allowing a run in the third. Adam Yunginger (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) worked a scoreless seventh and struck out two, while Ricky Dennis (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) struck out three in the eighth. Harry Paytas (Sea Girt, N.J./Wall) allowed a run in the ninth. Seven Lafayette pitchers combined to allow nine runs on 14 hits.
Lamberton went 5-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Connor White (Wall, N.J./Wall) and Jon Guida (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) drove in two runs apiece and Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) scored twice. Jackson Kramer had two hits for Lafayette.
Monmouth got things started early, when Joe Bamford (Washington, N.J./Northampton C.C./Warren Hills Regional) beat out a single to shortstop and went to second on an errant pickoff throw. He moved to third on a ground out, and scored when Lafayette shortstop Andrew Landolfi booted Jake Gronsky (Danville, Pa./Danville Area)'s ground ball. Andrew Santamauro doubled with one down in the fifth for Lafayette, and after Kramer singled him to third, Alex Woinski lined a sacrifice fly to tie the game at three.
The rest of the afternoon proved to be all Monmouth, beginning with a three-run fourth. Craig Sweeney (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) struck out for what should have been the second out, but the ball skipped away from the catcher, Austen Maggin, and Sweeney reached first. Lamberton singled to left, and Gaetano was hit by a pitch to fill the bases with two outs. White singled into the hole at shortstop, and Guida lined a two-run single to left to give the Hawks a 4-1 lead.
Gronsky ripped a one-out double that one-hopped the right center field fence with one out in the fifth, and Sweeney wasted no time depositing the first pitch he saw into left center for a run-scoring single. After working a perfect fourth, Singer allowed a leadoff base runner in the bottom of the fifth, but White promptly picked off Maggin to erase any threat.
The Hawks broke the game open in the seventh, scoring four in the inning. Sweeney and Danny Avella (Matawan, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) walked to start things, and Lamberton put a run-scoring single into left. Gaetano followed by dropping a single into right to score a run, and White got another run across, reaching on an error. With Guida batting and one out, Gaetano sprinted home on a wild pitch to make it 9-1 Hawks.
The Leopards added a ninth inning run against Paytas, when Nick Murray was hit by a pitch and worked his way around the bases to score.
Monmouth returns to action at home on Friday, with a non-conference game at 3:00 p.m. at the MU Baseball Field against Temple.
