Metzgar was anything but the field of dreams for the Leopards baseball team as they closed out league play with a weekend series against the Army Cadets. Game one of Saturday’s twinbill showcased a potent Army attack that bombarded the 'Pards 25-3.

    Designated hitter Matt Sawyer ignited the Army assault when he jacked a two-run homer. The runs kept pouring in from there as the Cadets produced 11 in the third and another eight the next inning. Josh Peyton proved to be the biggest gun in Army’s arsenal by whacking a grand slam in the fourth.

    The Leopards kept plugging away and finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore Ian Burley led the inning off with a single and eventually scored off another single from Jason Pomante '02.

    Never giving up, the relentless 'Pards fought to the end and added a pair of runs in the seventh. Bob Osipower '00 drove home freshman Eric Armstrong on a sacrifice fly. Pomante later crossed the plate on a wild pitch for the final run.

    The second contest of the day had the same theme as the first with Army striking first. Matt Sawyer’s RBI ground out in the second set the table for the Cadets as they tallied four more runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

    Army concluded their offensive output on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly. The Leopards crashed Army starter Buck Adams shut out party when Tye Gonser '02 singled in Ryan Barrett '01 from second base. Both squads couldn’t muster up any runs in the final innings, so the game ended 7-1.

    Sunday’s double header opened up with a bang for the Leopards. Full of fury, the Leopards jumped out to an early advantage by scoring three runs in the first frame. Mike Palos '00 drove in the first run and later came home off of a Gonser single.

    Like a pack of hungry dogs, the Leopards smelled blood and kept attacking the Cadets. In the very next inning, freshman Vince D’Angelis showed some power by jolting a three run blast over the left field fence. Not one to be shown up, Osipower introduced himself to pitcher Zach Watkins by clocking a home run of his own. The eight runs scored in the first two innings was all the leopards needed to topple the Cadets 8-3.

    Junior Scott Dennis went the distance and earned his second win of the season. The Spencertown, NY native surrendered three runs on three hits and walks.

    “I’m bushed”, explained an exhausted Dennis. “It was a long day but I felt good especially because of the great run support I had.”

    On the other side of the mound, Zach Watkins suffered the loss for Army.

    The twilight game of Sunday’s double header kept the crowd at Metzgar on the edge of their seats as it took twelve innings to end the day.

    Army watched an early 1-0 lead evaporate when the Leopards scored three runs in the third inning. Mike Palos '00 led the charge with an RBI single. Ian Burley '01 followed that up by lacing a double down the right field line to bring in another run.

    “Going into this inning, I knew that we were going to get the bats going” said Burley matter of factly. “After the win yesterday, we felt that we could knock them off again”.

    The inning was capped off by a Jason Carlough '01 sacrifice fly that scored Palos. The Leopards scored again in the fifth on an Armstrong single.

    Army, with ice running through their veins, calmly mounted a comeback in the top of the sixth. Two doubles, one each from Miguel Gastellum and Shaun Salmon were the artillery needed for the Cadets to tie the game at 4-4. Chris Mattox’s RBI single added another run in the top of the seventh for Army.

    The Leopards returned the favor when pinch hitter D’Angelis dropped a single to center field and scored Burley to nod the game at 5-5 after seven innings of play.

    The 'Pards had their chances to score but couldn’t capitalize with the bases loaded in both eighth and the tenth innings. Then, in the twelfth, Matt Sawyer came to the plate with the bases juiced and belted a Kevin Swords '02 pitch into right field. The hit scored two runs and put the Cadets up for good. Army added another run off of a Josh Peyton sacrifice fly and ended the contest 8-5.

    Army marched out of Easton taking three out of four games but respected the fighting 'Pards efforts. Peyton stated, “This is a tough team to play against because even if you are leading by a lot, they never give up. They definitely will get better.”

    The Leopards faced LaSalle Wednesday afternoon and despite three home-runs and eight RBI's for Osipower, the 'Pards fell 13-17.

    With that, the regular season winds down and now the Leopards will look to its youth to lead them into the next millennium.