PURCHASE, N.Y.- The Manhattanville baseball team struggled to produce any offense until late against Lehman on Tuesday afternoon, falling to the Lightning by a final score of 11-5 in non-conference play.
 
Manhattanville (14-13) did not register a hit until the sixth inning against Lehman (6-10) starting pitcher Thomas Montilli. By the sixth, the Lightning had already manufactured a 7-0 lead over the Valiants. Sophomore Robbie Lynch (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) led the late offensive pursuit, tallying two hits and a run for Manhattanville.
 
Freshman Michael Perrone (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) made his first collegiate start on the mound for the Valiants, tossing two innings, allowing four runs on one hit before suffering the loss. The Valiants tossed four different pitchers against Lehman, giving up 11 runs on 13 hits.
 
The Lightning opened up the scoring in the second inning, tallying four runs off Perrone. After a wild pitch and a single from Carlo Francisco, Lehman grabbed a 2-0 lead. The RBI single from Francisco was followed by a sacrifice fly and another wild pitch, giving Lehman a 4-0 lead after two innings of play. With Montilli dealing on the mound, the Valiants could not get anything going offensively. The Lightning eventually added two additional runs in the fourth on a two-run single from Jhon Comas to make it 6-0. Comas tallied his third RBI of the day in the seventh to give Montilli a comfortable 7-0 lead in the sixth.
 
Trailing by seven runs in the sixth, the Valiants finally got on the board in the bottom half of the inning when it was senior Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) driving in a run on a sacrifice fly, bringing home junior Jake McGrath (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane). The Lightning added two additional runs in the eighth before Manhattanville finally found some life. After loading the bases, the Valiants took advantage of Montilli in the eighth, scoring four runs to pull within four. None of the Manhattanville runs in the eighth came off hits. Lehman score two insurance runs in the ninth off freshman Antonio Ogando (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) before beating the Valiants by a final score of 11-5 in non-conference play.
 
Manhattanville will return home on Thursday to take on Western Connecticut State at 4 p.m. Live stats can be accessed via GoValiants.com.