In a tune-up before this weekend's Region III Tournament, the Genesee Community College baseball team hosted Lackawanna College on Wednesday afternoon in a final regular season doubleheader. The Cougars lost the first game 14-2 but came back to win in walk-off fashion in game two, 9-8.
Brandon Collins hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first, but Genesee surrendered two runs to Lackawanna in the top of the inning to fall behind.
GCC used a total of four pitchers in game one and allowed 14 runs (nine earned) on 12 hits.
Collins doubled in the fourth and scored on an RBI single by Josh Maier, but that was the extent of the Cougars offense in game one.
In game two, Lackawanna again put two runs on the board in the top of the first to take an early lead.
Ryan DiMartino singled with one out in the second inning and then scored on a triple by Jacob Sodja to cut Lackawanna's lead in half.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Fauchedre Celestijn delivered an RBI single that scored Jacob Kenney to get GCC to within 3-2. Manny Garcia added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to tie the game at 3-3.
Lackawanna responded in the top of the seventh with five runs to take an 8-3 lead.
The Cougars loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh and cut the Lackawanna lead in half after Celestijn was hit by a pitch, allowing Maier to score. Garcia then stepped to the plate and hit a game-tying grand slam out to left, notching the score at 8-8. The Cougars kept the rally going and loaded the bases again, before Jose Diaz was hit by a pitch, scoring Collins to give Genesee a 9-8 walk-off win.
The Cougars finish the regular season 21-11 and will now turn their sights on the Region III Tournament which will begin on Friday afternoon at Monroe Community College.
