(Valhalla, NY) - Four Vikings had two hits apiece, and sophomore Steve Guzman (Bronx, NY/John F. Kennedy HS) reached base five times, but the Westchester Community College Baseball team lost its sixth consecutive game, 18-5 on Thursday at Vikings Field. With the loss, Westchester is now 13-9 overall and 0-5 in Mid-Hudson Conference/Region XV play.

It was the best start to a game the Vikings have had in several games as freshman pitcher Michael Cox (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas HS) got out of the first inning unscathed, and the Vikings rewarded him with four runs in the bottom of the opening frame, as an RBI double by CJ Spence (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon HS), a sacrifice fly by Steve Messerchmitt (Carmel, NY/Carmel HS), and two-RBI double by Chris Cipriano (Irvington, NY/Dobbs Ferry HS) gave the hosts a 4-0 lead.

Two innings later a Brian McBride (Putnam Valley, NY/Putnam Valley HS) single scored Cipriano to make it 5-0 in favor of Westchester after three innings. However, from there, the tide turned complete as the Vikings combined for only three hits the rest of the way, while the Orange CC bats came alive. The visiting Colts (8-9, 2-3) responded with 18 consecutive runs during the six, seventh, and eighth innings for their second conference/region win of the season.
 

Errors once again changed the entire complexion of the game as the Vikings committed eight of them, and allowed a total of eight unearned runs. Cox was strong overall, allowing six earned runs over six innings, while striking out nine Orange batters, and walking only one.

Guzman went 2 for 2 with three walks and a run scored, while Spence, Messerschmitt, and Hailyn Gonzalez (Bronx, NY/Bronx Envision Academy) had two hits apiece.

Westchester CC and Orange CC continue their series on Friday, April 12 when the teams meet once again at Vikings Field for a 4:00 p.m. single game.