BRONX, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) - - The SUNY College at Old Westbury baseball team pulled off a 6-4 comeback victory over the Lehman Lightning Wednesday evening in non-conference road action from South Field. With the win, Old Westbury climbed to 15-19 on the season while Lehman fell to 5-18.
Starters,
Nick Dorcean of Old Westbury and Stephen Smith of Lehman kept the bats at bay through the first three innings, as neither team managed a single hit. The duel was broken up in the bottom of the fourth when a Jaime Maldonado RBI run single; a two-run single by Carlos Alcantara and Waldo Acosta's sacrifice fly to score Maldonado put Lehman ahead 4-0. Old Westbury's pitching settled down and served up just one hit over the final five innings due in part to solid relief work from
Tyler Kapela and
Alex DiSanto.
The Panthers responded immediately in the fifth with three runs to make it a 4-3 game.
Jacob Coners drove Jessie Matos home with a sacrifice fly and scored two batters later off
Nick Yip's two-run home run.
Robinson Hernandez kept the Panther offense afloat in the following frame with a leadoff double. Two batters later,
Joey Walsh's sacrifice fly scored Hernandez while Coners followed with an RBI single to score
Tommy Ziegen for the game-winning run. In the seventh, Yip delivered his second homer of the day with a solo shot to close the scoring for Old Westbury's 6-4 win.
Yip's (2-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB) two round trippers led the Panthers offense and now has a Skyline Conference leading five home runs on the season. Hernandez (3-4, 2 2B, R, SB) finished with a career-high three hits, including a pair of doubles.
Maldonado's (2-4, 2B, RBI, R, 2 SB) two hits led Lehman's offense while Alcantara (1-4, 2 RBI) added two RBIs.
Kapela (2-0) earned the victory, tossing 4.2 innings of one-hit scoreless relief for the Panthers, striking out two and walking one batter. DiSanto blew away the Lightning with three strikeouts in the ninth to record his second save of the season.
Lehman reliever Ja'Von Collins (2-1) suffered the loss, allowing two runs on two hits after recording just two outs.
BARUCH BEARCATS UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury returns to the diamond on Thursday (April 24) for a non-conference showdown with the Baruch Bearcats at 3:30 p.m. from MCU Park in Brooklyn.
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