Lightning Suffers First Loss Of CUNYAC Championships, Plays CSI On Friday

April 26, 2012

Box Score

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Facing the top-seeded Bearcats in the opening game of the CUNYAC Baseball Championships, the Lightning allowed five runs over the fifth and sixth innings as Baruch defeated Lehman to 7-3 on Thursday afternoon at MCU Park.

Baruch starter Jeffrey Mercedes struck out 14 on his way to earning the complete game victory.

The Bearcats opened the day's scoring as they took advantage of a throwing error by Lightning catcher Onix Mejia which allowed Thomas Daly to scamper home with the game's first run.

Lehman pushed ahead in the top of the third on Edwin Marrero's two-run single before Baruch knotted things in its half of the inning when Steven Hession scored on a wild pitch.

Both teams traded zeroes in the fourth, followed by another scoreless inning from the Lightning in the top of the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth Baruch untied things on Alvin Mata's RBI single. Matta later scored on another wild pitch from Lightning starter Aneudi Garcia to give Baruch the 4-2 lead.

The Bearcats extended their lead in the next inning with three more runs, the big blow coming on a run-scoring triple by Hession, who ended up scoring on the play after a throwing error by Wilfredo Gonzalez.

Staked to a 7-2 lead, Mercedes set the Lightning down in order in the seventh. Lehman cut into the deficit in the eighth on Onix Mejia's RBI double and later put two on in the ninth, but could get no closer as Mercedes struck out Socrates Peralta and Christian Fadul to end the game.

The loss by the Lehman sends it to the loser's bracket where it will face the College of Staten Island, a 4-1 loser to John Jay in its opening game, on Friday at 1 p.m.

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