Box Score
The Lehman College baseball team (4-15 Overall, 1-5 CUNYAC) picked up an impressive come-from-behind victory Friday afternoon, rallying from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the Beavers of the City College of New York (3-22 Overall, 0-3 CUNYAC) in a non-conference contest by a score of 10-8 at Bronx Community College.
The pitching match-up featured Lehman College's Jason Caraballo taking on the City College of New York's Kemil Nunez. After a scoreless first inning, the Lightning got on the board first in the top of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Beavers struck back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to jump ahead, 2-1.
After the Lightning failed to score in the top of the third inning, Caraballo put runners on first and third with one out, signaling the end of his day after 2.1 innings pitched and two earned runs allowed on no hits, seven walks, a hit batsman, and two strikeouts. Brian Cubero would relieve Caraballo but would have a rough outing, allowing four runs over the ensuing 2.2 innings to put Lehman in a 5-1 hole.
CCNY's Nunez was cruising along until the seventh inning when the Lightning offense broke out for three runs. After Angel Ramos grounded out to start the inning, Bobby Villante walked, and Gilbert Garcia doubled-in Villante to cut Lehman's deficit to 5-2. Amadoernesto Guzman's single advanced Garcia to third base, putting runners on the corners. Andrew Rosario then reached via a fielder's choice, allowing Garcia to score, but Guzman was safe at second base thanks to an error by Beaver second baseman Pat Barry. At that point, the Lightning trailed just 5-3 with still only one out in the inning. Lehman would push across one more run in the inning to pull to within 5-4.
Cubero's final inning would not come without a blemish, as he allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh as CCNY took a 6-4 lead. The Lightning, however, would put together an inning that they hope turns their season around, as they plated four runs in the top of the eighth inning to push ahead, 8-6. The inning was highlighted by an RBI double by Garcia and an RBI single by Emmanuel Vera.
With an 8-6 lead, Garcia came on to pitch the final two innings. In his first inning of work, he didn't allow any runs to score. After Lehman College plated two insurance runs in the top of the ninth, Garcia allowed just a single run to come home in the ninth inning as the Lightning held on for the three-run victory.
In addition to picking up a save, Garcia finished the day 3-for-4 with a double, two walks, two runs scored, two RBI's. Villante completed his day 2-for-5 with a walk and three runs scored. As a team, the Lightning pounded out 13 hits and committed only one error on the afternoon, while CCNY was victimized by five errors resulting in Lehman plating six unearned runs.
The Lightning will hope to build off of this victory when the team takes to the road to battle FDU-Florham in a non-conference contest, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00pm.
