Short answers, pulled from the story.
French Republican troops under General Pierre Augereau attacked a fortified Sardinian ridge near Ceva but were repelled at every point. Despite the successful defense, Sardinian commander Michelangelo Colli ordered a withdrawal that night to avoid being outflanked by a second French division under Jean Serurier.
General Giuseppe Felice, Count Vital, commanded the southern portion of the Sardinian defensive line with nine battalions. Overall Sardinian army command rested with Feldmarschal-Leutnant Michelangelo Colli, who ordered the retreat after a council of war on the night of the 16th of April.
Serurier's French division camped within sight of Ceva that evening, threatening the southern flank, while General Brempt warned that a renewed attack could cut off the northern end of the line. Colli held a council of war and concluded the position could not be held safely, ordering most of the army to withdraw west behind the Corsaglia River.
The French lost approximately 600 men killed and wounded during the fighting on the 16th of April 1796. Brempt reported Sardinian-Austrian losses of 150, while casualties in Vital's sector were not recorded.
Ceva was fought on the 16th of April 1796, the sixth day of the Montenotte Campaign, which had opened on the 10th of April. It followed French victories at Montenotte on the 12th of April, Millesimo on the 13th of April, and the Second Battle of Dego on 14-the 15th of April. After Ceva, the campaign continued with Sardinian rear-guard actions at San Michele Mondovi on the 19th of April and ended with the decisive French victory at the Battle of Mondovi on the 21st of April.
Bonaparte assigned General of Brigade Jean Rusca to mask the fortress at Ceva with a screening force and continued pressing the Sardinian army westward toward Cuneo. He did not attempt a siege, choosing instead to keep the momentum of the wider campaign going.