SOMERVILLE, MA – Lesley University overcame a self-induced 5-0 deficit to earn a 9-6 win over visiting Newbury College, taking two out of three from the Nighthawks over the weekend in New England Collegiate Conference baseball play.
With the help of four Lynx (3-10, 2-3 NECC) errors, Newbury (9-10, 2-4 NECC) got out to a 5-0 lead, but Lesley's Peter Plansky (Litchfield, NH/Campbell) went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double and two runs scored to power the Lynx first home win and first series win in program history.
Newbury's Alex Chetlat (Hamden, CT/Hamden) homered, scored twice, drove in three and fanned three of the six batters he faced in relief work on the mound.
Lynx starter Ryan Genua (Prospect, CT/Woodland) appeared to pitch around a leadoff hit batsman and a walk that led off the second, but a two-out Aqib Shah error plated two unearned runs to put the Nighthawks ahead 2-0 after two.
Newbury's Patrick Curry (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton) reached on an error in the third, which proved costly only a batter later, as cleanup hitter Chetlat crushed his two-run shot over the fence in right-center to up the lead to 4-0. A fourth infield error allowed a fourth unearned run, leaving the Lynx in a 5-0 hole.
Lesley got one back in the bottom of the inning, as a well-executed hit-and-run with John Gosnell (Toronto, ON/Taft) at the plate sent Robert Parson (Commack, NY/Commack) from first to third, where he could score on a Shah (Watertown, NY/Watertown) sac fly.
After a long single to the wall in left in the second, Plansky went the extra distance to start a five-hit, five-run rally to lead off the fourth, checking out onto Franey Road with a line drive solo shot, his first homer as a Lynx. Catcher David Hersey (Wolfeboro, NH/Kingswood) beat out an infield single and promptly came around to score on a triple to right-center from Andrew Colon (Chelsea, MA/Chelsea), who scored on an Adam Ciampi (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) sac fly to the shortstop in shallow left.
With runners at second and third and two down, Shah atoned for his two-run error in the exact situation in the second, scoring Parson and Ray Cohen (Coventry, CT/Coventry) on a solid single to center to cap the rally and swing the Lynx on top 6-5.
Newbury tied the contest on a Curry double and Michael Dean sac fly, but the Lynx first baseman again answered.
Plansky went to the wall for a third time to start another rally that gave Lesley its second lead in as many innings in the fifth, doubling to lead off the inning. Newbury's Jorge Pimentel (Winsted, CT/Gilbert) came on for reliever Lyndon Brundige (Rockland, MA/Rockland) with the bases loaded and no outs and walked Ciampi to score Plansky, and a Cohen sac fly to center sent home Hersey, and Colon scored on a Gosnell base hit to give the Lynx their largest lead at 9-6.
Genua and the Lynx defense settled in to blank the Nighthawks over the final four frames, with the Lesley lefty going the distance and allowing only five hits and two earned runs (six total), striking out five to improve his record to 2-1 on his sophomore campaign.
The Lynx return to play tomorrow at Anna Maria, while Newbury travels to Gordon next.
