Juniata falls to LaRoche College as spring break trip reaches halfway mark

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – LaRoche College touched four Juniata College pitchers for a total of 11 hits and went on to post an 11-4 win over Juniata, Monday afternoon in Fort Pierce, Fla. 

Juniata (3-1) scored a pair of runs in the first, when lead-off hitter Adam Spadafora (Asbury, N.J./Pennington School) reached on a walk and later scored on Greg Hoffman's (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) double-play grounder to third. Dane Ott (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) added another run later in the frame, plating Kevin Small (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North) on an RBI single. 

LaRoche answered with one run in the bottom of the first and five runs in the second, and adding two more runs in the third to take an 8-2 lead. A pair of doubles, two singles, a triple and a balk fueled the RedHawks' second inning, with LaRoche also benefitting from a pair of walks. 

Small's sacrifice fly to left field scored Spadafora for a single Juniata run in the fifth inning; Kevin Campbell (Darnestown, Md./Poolesville) scored a final Eagle run in the ninth when he got aboard with a single and later crossed on a fielder's choice grounder to second base.

Juniata starter Nate Burkey (Alexandria, Pa./Juniata Valley) received his first start of the season, and was lifted after allowing eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts over two complete innings.  LaRoche starter Adam Sepesy yielded six walks and three hits over seven innings of work, but was credited with the win.

Tuesday will be an off-day for the Eagles, before they return to action on Wednesday morning in a doubleheader against Manhattanville College.

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