(Valhalla, NY) - Sophomore Day for the Westchester Community College Baseball team might be two months away, but if Wednesday's home opener is a sign of things to come for the Vikings, every day they take the field could become a celebration of what is shaping up to be an outstanding sophomore class. On Wednesday, it took major contributions from nearly every sophomore on the Westchester roster to overcome an early deficit to a feisty Kingsborough Community College team making its 2020 season opener. Sophomore Hailyn Gonzalez (Bronx, NY/Bronx Envision Academy) enjoyed the best game of his young career, going 4 for 4 with three runs scored, and the game-winning RBI in the sixth inning, and fellow sophomore Michael Cox (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas HS) launched the first home run of his career, a two-run bomb in the fifth inning to tie the score 5-5, as Westchester CC rode a seven-run sixth inning to down the visiting Wave 12-6 at Viking field. With their fourth straight win, Westchester is now 4-1 for the 2020 season.

The game was certainly not nearly as easy as the final score indicated, as Kingsborough (0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, and a 4-2 lead into the fourth inning as an assortment of Viking pitchers walked three Kingsborough batters and hit four during the first two innings alone. The Wave took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, but a Gonzalez single and stolen base brought Cox to the plate with one out. With a stiff wind blowing towards right field, the lefty blasted his first career home run to right field to tie the score at five. However, Kingsborough reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth inning on an RBIO double off of pitcher Hector Camacho (Harrison, NY/Harrison HS). However, that was the final hit Kingsborough would get off of Camacho, yet another sophomore who helped save the day.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Westchester took advantage of two Kingsborough errors and four walks to blow the game wide open. Freshman Don Hopper (Garrison, NY/Walter Panas HS) singled home sophomore Jhojandy Hernandez (Bronx, NY/Salesian) to tie the score 6-6. Later, with the bases loaded, Gonzalez brought Hopper home with a single to put Westchester ahead for good, 7-6. From there, a walk, a passed ball, and an error brought home single runs to make it 9-6, and the Vikings tacked on three more runs for the 12-6 edge.

That was more than enough for Camacho, who retired the final five batters he faced to pick up his first win of the 2020 campaign, as he struck out three of the seven batters he faced.

Aside from Gonzalez's heroics, Cox went 3 for 4 with two RBI's and three runs scored, while Hopper drove in a pair of runs. Six Vikings combined for 11 hits on the day.

Westchester Community College returns to action on Thursday, March 5 when the Vikings host Queensborough Community College at 3:00 p.m. for their final contest before a nine-game trip in Florida for Spring Break.