Breithaupt’s big night pushes Lafayette past Oxford in final game of Crosstown Classic Series

Published 10:44 pm Monday, March 6, 2023

A 4-for-4 performance at the plate from Brody Breithaupt propelled Lafayette to a 6-1 win over Oxford in the final game of this year’s Crosstown Classic Series Monday night.

The junior third baseman’s big night came at an opportune time for the Commodores (5-4), who were desperate for a victory after dropping back-to-back games against the Chargers (7-1) last week.

Breithaupt notched four hits in the win, driving in two runs and crossing the plate twice himself in a career night at the plate.

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“He’s a good hitter, and the thing about it is he hasn’t really started clicking yet,” said head coach John Walker. “He’s a power guy — he hit some ground balls tonight and that’s good for us because those balls will start back-spinning and he’ll start riding some out… he had several of those hits with two strikes [tonight] and that’s an important factor to our offense.”

The ‘Dores also took advantage of a massive two-out, pinch-hit triple from junior Foster Crockett in the fourth inning that pushed two runs across the plate and gave Lafayette a 3-0 advantage in the middle innings.

The offensive explosion was more than enough run support for starter Everett Thompson, who took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Oxford’s Jack Harper broke it up with a double laced off the wall in dead center.

“Everett’s got a bit more velocity so we were able to use the fastball in maybe some counts that they haven’t seen from us with the other two guys. He’s a four pitch guy who had command of everything tonight,” Walker said. “It’s kinda fun, I know Coach Carr has a good time when a guy’s got that stuff going it’s kinda like a video game you know — which one do we want to do here? That’s what we needed from him in order for us to get this game.”

The senior finished his night after 5 2/3 innings, surrendering just one run on two hits and striking out eight batters before handing the ball off to fellow senior Noah Robinson in the sixth.

Robinson worked quickly to get the final four outs, striking out three of the six batters he faced to earn the save.

Lafayette is scheduled to face Senatobia at home Tuesday night, while Oxford moves on to host Lewisburg on Thursday.