Box Score

BRONX, NY ---  The Lehman College baseball team lost 16-11 to visiting Western Connecticut State University on Thursday evening at the South Field on the Lehman College campus.
 
The Colonials of Western Connecticut (16-16) have won four of their last five games while the Lightning of Lehman (8-24) are slumping of late, losing their fifth straight.
 
The visitors got things going in the top of the first when senior center fielder Chris Callahan (Southington, CT/Holy Cross) hit a two-run blast over the right field wall to put his team up by two.          
 
Lehman wasted little time answering, as in the bottom of the first and with two men on, junior third baseman Juan Arias (Bronx, NY/Norman Thomas) crushed a ball to left field for his second home run of the season as the Lighting went up 3-2.
 
That remained the score entering the bottom of the fifth when Lehman sophomore center fielder Carlo Francisco (Yonkers, NY/Yonkers) drown in another run with an RBI double to center. Beginning with the very next at-bat, Lehman exploded with three consecutive home runs for the first time this year. Junior first baseman Christopher Lopez (Bronx, NY/Lehman) went yard for his fourth shot of the season, extending Lehman's lead to four runs. That was followed by Arias hitting his second homer of the game, and junior designated hitter James Kennedy (Stroudsburg, PA/Pocono Mountain East) sending his first ball over the fence. Suddenly, Lehman had taken a commanding 8-2 lead.
 
In the top of the sixth, Western Connecticut got two of those runs back when, with runners at first and third, sophomore first baseman Kevin DeCastro (Bethpage, NY/Bethpage) doubled to right for two RBI, with the score now 8-4.  
 
Western Connecticut tied it up in top of the seventh, when RBI base hits by senior left fielder John Kelly (Stratford, CT/Bunnell), Callahan and DeCastro resulted in four runs with the score at 8-8.
 
The top of the eighth saw the Colonials exploit four Lightning errors, scoring eight runs off five hits. Callahan hit a two-run home run while sophomore second baseman Stanley Rijo (Torrington, CT/Torrington) also drove in a run.           
 
Lehman attempted to battle back in the bottom of the eighth, as Kennedy drove a three-run homer to left to pull the Lightning to within five. That was as close as Lehman could get, however, as they were shutout in the ninth inning.
 
Western Connecticut sophomore pitcher Kyle Sanford (Torrington, CT/Torrington) picked up the win for the Colonials, striking out four in two-and-a-third innings.        
Freshman pitcher Jose Albrincole (Santo Domingo, DR/Cenapec) started for Lehman, and was effective for the better part of six innings, striking out six Colonials.
   
Lopez finished the game going four-of-five at the plate with two RBI and three runs. Arias and Kennedy both finished with four RBI. The eleven runs were Lehman's third highest total of the season, while the five combined home runs were a season high. Seven errors led to nine unearned runs against Lehman.
 
Lehman will be back in action on Saturday, April 30^th when they travel to New York University for an 11:00 a.m. double-header.