By Adrian Gonzalez
On a windy afternoon in March at Lehman College South field, the players from the men’s baseball team spoke about the 2025 season so far, the training methods they undergo, and the expectations for the season. In these interviews, players and coaches addressed the challenges they face when playing against other college baseball teams and their season goal to win a CUNYAC Conference championship for Lehman College.
The Lehman Athletics baseball players carried book bags that contained their bats, batting gloves, cleats, defensive gloves, and black/blue uniforms ahead of the game against Mount Saint Vincent. The black colored hats with yellow lightning between the blue colored letters “LC” represent Lehman College.
Ryan Rosa is a 5’9 right-handed hitter and junior at Lehman College. Rosa wears #18 and plays shortstop for the Lightning Athletics. Rosa is originally from the Bronx and has been on the Lehman baseball team since 2023, starting 27 games throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Ryan spoke before the game against Mount Saint Vincent about the leadership role he has in the infield, communicating with his Lehman teammates, and how he prepares during the offseason. “We got workout programs this year, make sure you’re getting in your own reps without a coach heading to the batting cage or even throwing the ball to the wall,” said Rosa “The most difficult thing about playing shortstop is you’re the leader and have a lot of responsibility in the infield, also keeping your other teammates in check to make sure they are in the proper fielding position for a specific batter.”
Christopher Cruz is a sophomore at Lehman College. He is a 5’8 right-handed hitter for Lehman and wears #12 as the primary center fielder. Cruz grew up in the Bronx and talked about his mentality when preparing to catch fly balls and being the best center fielder he could be. “For me to get a good jump on the baseball, I have to get my prep step, take at least one step back, to see where the ball is going depending on the wind like the backspin of the ball just tracking it as best as possible,” he said. “In the outfield, the most difficult position to play is center field because you have to be the heart of the outfield. You have to be everywhere, backing up everyone and communicating with your outfielders.” Cruz said college baseball is much more competitive than local leagues and people take it more seriously. College baseball has much more at stake compared to local leagues, he said, with the CUNYAC Championship being one of the most prominent accolades a CUNY athlete can achieve.
Former Lehman baseball player Christopher Delgado got hired as the head coach for the Lehman College baseball team in the summer of 2024. Delgado started as an assistant coach during the 2024 season and is now coaching the 2025 Lightning Athletics. Coach Delgado spoke about his goals this season and the current team’s progress in 2025 before the doubleheader against the University of Valley Forge. “The most difficult thing about this season is rebuilding a program with limited resources,” said Delgado. “My goal is to definitely win a championship; that’s the ultimate end goal for the 2025 season. The 0-6 record currently doesn’t reflect us as a team, it just reflects the result of the game. There are a lot of highlights in those games… we couldn’t close out of those games the way we wanted to,” he added. “The last time Lehman went into a deep playoff run was in my senior year in 2023. We made it to the championship and ended up losing that year.”
Coach Delgado participated in the 2023 season, where Lehman faced off against the CCNY Beavers in the CUNYAC Baseball Championship at Maimonides Park. The Lightning came up short in the championship that year as the Beavers ended up taking the title for the second time ever in their program history since 1994. The last time Lehman College achieved a championship was in 1995 led by Coach Steve Macias. That same year, the Lightning held a 21-13 record and defeated Staten Island 5-0 in the championship game. Lehman College has won a total of 4 CUNYAC Baseball titles and is looking to add a 5th after a 30-year drought.
The coaches and players are looking for a lightning spark to get the team back in the right direction. Assistant coach Ethan Madera is a new addition to the Lehman Athletics coaching staff. Madera has been helping the players develop and improve their knowledge and skills on the baseball field. “Coaching the Lehman baseball team has been great; it’s challenging,” said Madera. “We got a great group of guys that are committed to the process, and as a coaching staff we try to do our best and put them in the best position to win games,” Madera said. “The most difficult thing so far during the season has been playing in the cold weather. This year we got a great balance of players in their undergraduate years at Lehman College; we got a couple seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen.”
The Lighting had a rough start to the season with an 0-13 record and were going up against Yeshiva University. Lehman College would go onto win their first game of the 2025 season, ending their 42 game losing streak drought since 2023 and defeated Yeshiva University 7-6 in the first game of the doubleheader on April 8, 2025. Yeshiva University would later end their 100 game losing streak in the second game and win 9-5 over the Lightning Athletics. Both teams made College Baseball history by snapping their long losing streaks.
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