EASTON, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's baseball team evened its record for the season and reached the semifinals of the Liberty Bell Classic with a 9-4 win over Lafayette at Kamine Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
Saint Joseph's (10-10) took an early lead as John Brue's solo home run in the top of the first put the Hawks on top, 1-0.
Charlie Concannon led off the second with a single and Brian Lau drew a walk to bring Cal Jadacki to the plate; Jadacki followed with a three-run home run to right to extend the lead to 4-0.
Lafayette (6-14) got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Campbell Lipe reached on an error to start the inning and went to third on a double by Dan Leckie. Andrew Landolfi followed with a sacrifice fly to score Lipe, and Leckie came in two batters later on a single by John Selsor to make it 4-2.
Lipe drove in a run of his own with an RBI groundout to score Jackson Kramer in the bottom of the sixth before Leckie followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 4-4.
The deadlock would be short-lived as Peter Sitaras walked to lead off the seventh, stole second, and came around to score on a double by Deon Stafford, Jr. Brue followed with a single to plate Stafford and push the lead to two before Lau singled Brue home to make it a 7-4 game. After a four-pitch walk to Jadacki, Taylor Boyd's two-run single extended the advantage to 9-4.
Jack Stover kept the Leopards off the scoreboard in the seventh and eighth, and Lau pitched a perfect ninth to finish off the game.
Pat Vanderslice started for the Hawks and tossed four perfect innings, striking out two, in a no-decision. Zach DeVincenzo earned the win in an inning of relief to improve to 1-1, while Ryan Callanan took the loss for Lafayette, allowing four runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
The Hawks will host Villanova next Tuesday, April 5, in a Liberty Bell Classic semifinal at Smithson Field. The Wildcats topped Penn, also by a 9-4 score, in quarterfinal action on Tuesday. Lehigh and Rider, winners over Delaware and La Salle, respectively, will meet in the other semifinal. The two winners will face off at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, April 26.
SJU returns home tomorrow for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch against Bucknell.
