Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
BRONX, N.Y. - When you haven't had a varsity baseball team since 1937, that first varsity season since is going to include a lot of "firsts," and 2013 has been filled with those for Bard College.

Perhaps none of them was bigger, though, than Tyler Emel's three-run home run in the top of the fifth inning of Game 2 of Sunday's doubleheader against Lehman College. The blast - Bard's first home run in at least 76 years - capped off an eight-run rally that lifted the Raptors to a 12-9 victory and a split of the twinbill.

Bard had struggled defensively all day, yielding five unearned runs in a 6-2 Game 1 loss, and committing six errors in Game 2. So the Game 2 burden fell on Bard's offense to do something it hadn't done all year: Come back late in the game from a big deficit.

The Raptors trailed, 6-2, entering the top of the fifth. Alec Montecalvo singled, Tom Danz walked and Cooper Roberts singled to load the bases with no outs. After a pitching change and a strikeout, Elliot Garcia singled and two runs scored to make it 6-4. Andres Medina reached on an error to load the bases again, and it was 6-5 after Adam Flowers drew a bases-loaded walk.

Ryan Conklin doubled to center field to give Bard a 7-6 lead, and Emel followed with a three-run blast which turned out to be the difference in the game - although the game was far from over.

Lehman (12-15) scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10-8, but Flowers hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the sixth to make it 12-8. Emel, who started the game on the mound, was lifted after giving up back-to-back singles to start the sixth. Conklin yielded one hit and got the last six outs for the first save of his collegiate career.

Everyone in the Game 2 lineup scored for Bard. Flowers (1-for-4) and Emel (3-for-5) each drove in four runs, and Conklin (3-for-4) drove in a pair. Emel yielded three earned runs over five innings to pick up his first win.

The first game was frustrating for the Raptors. Flowers pitched superbly, giving up one earned run over six innings and striking out eight, but he got the loss. Flowers and Montecalvo each went 2-for-3 to account for four of Bard's five hits. Both of Montecalvo's hits were ground-rule doubles.

The Raptors (4-14) next play on Tuesday night, hosting John Jay College of Criminal Justice for a doubleheader at Gruner Field in nearby Lake Katrine beginning at 6 p.m. You can follow both games right here via Live Stats.