Bronx, NY (April 12, 2017) – Purchase baseball kept the winning momentum going and battled to a 14-12 non-conference victory at Lehman College Wednesday evening. The win marks the third-straight for Purchase as the Panthers move to 5-11 on the season, while the Lightning drop to 6-15 overall in defeat.
Lehman opened scoring action with a single run in the bottom of the first inning. Purchase answered back with three runs in the top of the second before the Lightning tied it at 3-apiece with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Purchase added another four runs in the fourth backed by
Nick Tuozzola (SO/Milford, CT) bases-clearing double.
Purchase built a 10-4 lead in the fifth off a
Michael Tecci (SR/Stratford, CT) three-run home run, but the Lightning began chipping away. Trailing 12-5 in the sixth, Juan Arias delivered his pinch-hit homer then Ledesma followed with a homer in the seventh. Jaime Maldonado's RBI single and a Panther error sliced the Lehman deficit to 12-10.
The team would allow a bases-loaded in the eighth and a stolen base by Purchase's
Elias Sayad (SR/Wayne, NJ) in the ninth to push the Purchase lead to 14-10. Lehman belted a two-run smash in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out, but could not push any more runs across to cut short the comeback.
Rookie
Patrick Wallace (FR/Manorville, NY) paced the Panther offense with three hits on four trips to the plate. Tecci went 1-for-4 with three RBI and senior
Patrick Rucci (SR/Cortlandt Manor, NY) went 2-for-6 with a double and two RBI.
Gavin Brien (FR/Brooklyn, NY) collected another two hits and two runs for Purchase, while Tuozzola batted in three runs including the game-winner.
Panther starter
CJ Owens (FR/Middle Island, NY) collected his first career win after five innings of work on the mound.
The team got home runs from Ledesma, Castillo, and Arias in a losing effort. Castillo plated three runs, while Arias (pinch-hit two-run homer) and Ledesma tallied two RBI each.
Chris Encarnacion dropped his first decision of the season after allowing three runs (two earned) in one-third of the inning. Rich Villar struck out four in two relief innings for Lehman.