(Brooklyn, NY) - If an early-season scouting report exists on the Westchester Community College Baseball team, it very well may be to survive the sixth inning if an opponent wants to have a fighting chance at victory ... or maybe avoid the frame altogether if that were somehow possible. Three times this season, the Vikings have entered the sixth inning of a game with the issue very much in doubt, and three times Westchester has blown the game wide open during the sixth inning to earn a trifecta of victories to open the 2019 campaign.

This time around, it was an incredible 16-run rally during the top of the sixth inning at Kingsborough Community College that blew the doors off of a game that had been neck-and-neck throughout, extending a 3-2 WCC edge into a 19-2 advantage. Despite a rough bottom of the inning, Westchester emerged victorious, 19-6 to improve to 3-0 during the 2019 season.

How good has Westchester been during the sixth inning of games thus far? The Vikings have scored 32 runs thus far this season. 25 have come during the magical sixth inning. On Tuesday, Monroe College had scored twice to come within a single run of Westchester during the 2019 season opener, but a key insurance run gave Westchester the buffer they needed to close out their first win of the year. Later that day, Monroe and Westchester entered the bottom of the sixth inning tied 1-1 before an eight-run Viking rally turned a tight game into a mercy rule win.

And then there was Wednesday.

At Kingsborough, 21 Westchester batters came to the plate during the sixth inning, which could very well be a Westchester CC record for single-inning offensive success. Sophomore Steve Messerschmitt (Carmel, NY/Carmel HS) alone enjoyed an inning for the ages, coming to the plate twice during the frame, and blasting a triple, followed by a double, both of which plated two runs, and he scored twice as well. Freshmen Tyler Mandel (Scarsdale, NY/Scarsdale HS) and CJ Spence (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon HS) also had two-RBI hits during the offensive barrage in the sixth inning.

Kingsborough's rally during the bottom of the sixth inning came via the benefit of four unearned runs, but was not enough to avoid a mercy rule defeat.

For the game, six Vikings had multiple hits as Spence went 3 for 4 with two RBI's and two runs scored, Mandel went 2 for 4 with two RBI's and two runs scored, and Steve Guzman (Bronx, NY/John F. Kennedy HS) went 2 for 4 with two RBI's. Tyler Parshley (Carmel, NY/Carmel HS) and Hailyn Gonzalez (Bronx, NY/Bronx Envision Academy) also collected a pair of hits, and Parshley scored three runs for the Vikings.

Sophomore Dylan Sabia (Mahopac, NY/Iona Prep) earned his first career win for WCC, pitching five strong innings, allowing two earned runs, while striking out six. Messerschmitt also pitched a stellar bottom of the sixth inning, coming in after Kingsborough had rallied for four runs, and he retired all three batters he faced to close out the win.

The Vikings return 'home' on Thursday, March 14 when the host the Monroe College JV team for a 12:00 p.m. doubleheader at Silver Lake Park in West Harrison, NY