Baseball 3/21/2012 10:41:00 PM

Lightning Baseball Now 5-1 After Win Over SUNY Purchase

March 21, 2012

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - The Lehman baseball team is quickly making the South Field the place to be on game day.

Wednesday night the Lightning earned a well-played 5-4 win over visiting SUNY Purchase that had all the elements of a great game – good pitching, good defense, and timely hitting – which the team rode to its fifth victory of the season against just one loss. Lehman is just two wins away from surpassing its win total of six in 2011.

Things got off to a good start in the first inning for the Lightning with Frank Almonte leading off the game with a walk and then coming around to score on a double to right center by Stephen Valdes.

Purchase came right back, however, in the top of the second with two runs on a double by Kevin McQuade and a sacrifice fly by John Duffy. Lehman had a big opportunity in its half of the second when it loaded the bases with no one out on a double by Freddy Parra, a single by David Painter and a walk by Socrates Peralta, but ultimately came away with only one run when Michael Liang's chopper eluded Duffy at shortstop.

The Panthers then had their own bases loaded chance in the third. After allowing a single, a walk, a sacrifice bunt and another walk, Lightning starter Wilfredo Gonzalez beared down to escape the jam unscathed by inducing a ground ball to Valdes, who threw home to cut down Robert Robles at the plate, and then striking out McQuade swinging to end the inning.

Lehman regained the lead in the third when Onix Mejia crushed a double to left center and was driven home by Parra's base hit. The Lightning added two more runs in the fifth and sixth on run-scoring singles by Painter and Valdes to open up a 5-2 advantage.

Following the tight spot that Gonzalez worked out of in the third, the Lightning righty settled in and breezed through the next four innings, retiring 11 of the 13 batters to face him. Gonzalez went back out for the eighth, but ran out of steam, allowing the first two hitters to reach and forcing the hand of head coach Chris Viggiano, who went to Aneudi Garcia out of the pen.

Garcia struck out the first batter, Frank Fiumara, but then allowed a run scoring double by Leo Francisco, which cut the Lightning lead to 5-3. Garcia coaxed a swing and a miss out of the next batter, McQuade, who ended up reaching first when the ball got lost under Mejia behind the plate.

John Duffy, the No. 8 hitter in the Pathers' lineup, came to the plate with two on and hit a smash to Peralta, who made a nifty stop and nearly turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning if not for Duffy's hustle down the line to beat the throw from Frank Almonte to first. The play allowed Mark Donahue to score, further cutting the Lehman lead.

Garcia managed to get out of the inning when Almonte made a shoe-string catch of pinch-hitter Jay Ruiz's liner to short.

After the Lightning went in order in the bottom of the eighth, Garcia returned to the hill looking to shut the door. He struck out the first batter, Michael Sarni, looking, but put the tying run aboard when Robles singled to left. With Phil Georges at the plate, Robles tried to get into scoring position by stealing second, but was gunned down on a perfect throw by Mejia for the second out. A line out by Georges to Valdes at first ended the game in favor of the Lightning.

Thanks to Garcia's relief work, Gonzalez picked up his first win of the season for his seven-plus innings of six-hit, five strikeout ball.

Both Valdes and Painter each finished 3-for-4 at the dish.

Lehman is back in action on Saturday when it takes on perennial conference power College of Staten Island on the South Field.

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