Lafayette sweeps Greenville to clinch playoff spot
Published 9:05 am Friday, March 31, 2023
Lafayette baseball clinched their fourth consecutive playoff appearance this week as they completed a sweep of Greenville to remain undefeated in region play.
The Commodores (11-7-1, 5-0 Region 2-5A) defeated the Hornets by a combined score of 36-0 in a doubleheader on the road Tuesday before returning home to clinch the sweep with a 15-5 victory on Thursday.
The ‘Dores rolled out an all-senior lineup in recognition of Senior Day, with Seth Ross drawing the start on the mound and Noah and Adam Robinson filling out the bottom of the lineup.
The elder statesmen made quick work of the Hornets, plating runs in every inning of the run-rule victory.
They took advantage of several costly errors to push runs across, including a stretch in the fourth inning where they scored four unearned runs in a row courtesy of past balls, wild pitches and a pair of errors.
The offensive explosion gave plenty of run support to Ross, who struggled to find the strike zone in his two innings on the mound before handing the ball over to Logan Caldwell in the third.
Caldwell responded well, striking out four of the first six batters he faced before giving up a pair of runs in the fifth as his defense struggled to get outs behind him.
The victory sealed a playoff spot for the ‘Dores and all but wrapped up home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs as they moved to 5-0 in district play.
They travel to Ripley on Saturday before kick off their final region series against Cleveland Central on Monday.
Lafayette will travel to Cleveland to take on the Wolves Tuesday between home games on Monday and Thursday.