The College of Staten Island men’s baseball team got the best of Lehman College in game one of a scheduled doubleheader at South Field in the Bronx, NY, but then Mother Nature got the best of the afternoon, washing away the second game of the conference doubleheader. The Dolphins came from behind to score an 8-2 win over the Lightning, improving to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the CUNYAC, while the Lightning fell to 1-11, 0-1, respectively.
Chris Falcone went the distance for the Dolphins on the grey and wet day, and got in trouble in the first inning as the Lightning were able to bring two runs across. Tom Liang hit a two-out single to plate teammate Thomas Montilli. Stephen Smith followed with another RBI-tally, plating Michael Liang, as Lehman registered four hits and stole three bases in the inning before Falcone got Acosta to ground out to end the frame.
From there, however, the CSI left-hander settled in and was lights-out, shutting out the Lightning and holding the team hitless over the next six frames fanning a total of 15 batters by the time the dust settled. That was just what the Dolphins ordered because CSI’s run support didn’t pull through until the fifth inning.
Greg Manassa started with a base hit and Frank Sconzo earned on with a bunt single, advancing on an error, while Manassa scampered to third. A walk was then issued to Nick Delprete, loading the bags. That chased Lehman starter Michael Liang out of the game in favor of Joel Duran, but next up was CSI’s Joe Palmeri, and the sophomore made it hurt by stroking a two-RBI single to left, knotting the game, 2-2. After Delprete and Palmeri moved over a base thanks to a wild pitch, John Baggs stepped up and stroked another single to left, scoring another pair and giving the Dolphins the 4-2 edge. Duran settled from there but the damage was done.
While Falcone whizzed by Lehman in the fifth and sixth, CSI added another four-run punch in the seventh. Two-RBI base hits from Chris Ramanauskas and Greg Manassa were the daggers there. The Dolphins committed two errors in the last half inning as Lehman began to threaten, but Falcone would fan two batters in the seventh to take the complete game win. His 15 strikeouts were the fifth-highest single-game total in CSI history.
Lehman’s Liang took the loss, tossing four innings, yielding three earned runs on four Dolphins hits. Still, the Lightning bullpen was fractured, surrendering five runs on six hits in only three innings. CSI out-hit Lehman, 10-4.
The second game of the doubleheader was promptly postponed due to the rains which had taken over by that point. Game two of the doubleheader will take place at Lehman on Monday, March 31, at 5pm.
