Bronx, NY
(Mar. 17, 2018) – Purchase College baseball took to the road on Saturday, splitting a non-conference doubleheader with Lehman College. The Panthers opened the series with an 8-4 victory before dropping a 7-2 decision to the host Lightning in game two.
Purchase is now 8-4 on the season. Lehman is 5-6 overall.
Game 1: Purchase 8, Lehman 4
Purchase scored two runs on a Lehman error in the top of the second inning. In the third, sophomore ace
Brian Cunningham (JR/Westbury, NY) homered to right field to make it 3-0 in favor of the visitors. Purchase notched another in the top of the fourth after a
Matthew Nilsen (FR/Bellmore, NY) RBI-single to left field brought
Matthew Villalobos (JR/Brooklyn, NY) in to score.
Lehman's David Rodriguez laced a one-out, triple to center in the bottom of the fifth inning. He scored on an RBI groundout from Brandon Castillo, putting a stop to the Purchase shutout.
Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Lightning struck again. Carlo Francisco ripped a single to the opposite field. Mark Vargas followed and reached on a fielding error. With two outs, Namir Garcia connected on a clutch, three-run blast that tied the score at 4-4.
The Purchase offense answered back with four runs on three hits in the top of the seventh. Lehman went silent in the bottom half of the inning as Purchase secured the 8-4 win.
Cunningham went 3-for-4 including a homerun and a double to go along with two RBI to lead the Panthers in game one.
Sophomore starter
CJ Owens (Ridge, NY) picked up his first win of the season after going six innings on the mound for Purchase. Lehman's Emmanuel Velasquz fell to 1-1 with the complete-game loss.
Game 2: Lehman 7, Purchase 2
Lehman was first to score in game two. The Lighting tallied runs in the first and third innings to take a 6-0 lead over the Panthers.
Glennd Jarrin (FR/Bronx, NY) put Purchase up on the board with a 2-RBI triple in the top of the fourth inning. The bomb to left field brought teammates Nilsen and
Brendan Rose (FR/Brooklyn, NY) around to score, but the rally was short lived as Lightning pitcher Rich Frommelt struck out the next batter and retired the inning.
Frommelt tossed a complete-game, six-hitter in game two, earning his first win of 2018.
Lehman scored the final run of the game in the fifth before taking the final 7-2 victory.
Purchase's
Dominic Micara (JR/Massapequa, NY) (0-2) was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on four hits in the opening inning.
Up next, the Panthers head to Palisades Park, NJ for a Skyline Conference doubleheader hosted by Yeshiva University. The matchup is set for this Tuesday (Mar. 20) at 5 p.m.