‘Never give up’: These baseball teams have both snapped a combined 141-game losing streak

Two of the longest losing streaks in college baseball history came to an end on Tuesday when Yeshiva University and Lehman College squared off in a thrilling doubleheader in Teaneck, N.J.

Lehman College, a public institution in New York City’s Bronx neighbourhood, had been stuck in a 42-game losing streak. The Lightning men’s baseball team hadn’t won a game since May 9, 2023, when they defeated New York’s Baruch College. But in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, Lehman broke their streak with a hard-fought 7-6 extra-inning victory over Yeshiva.

The second game took an equally dramatic turn. Yeshiva University, a private Orthodox Jewish school with four campuses across New York City, had been enduring an even more painful streak — 99 consecutive losses dating back to February 27, 2022. But in the nightcap, the Maccabees found their spark, emerging with a 9-5 victory to end their winless run.

After a tense tie, the game went into extra innings, where a key hit-by-pitch in the eighth inning allowed Lehman to seal their victory.

A standout performance came from Lehman pitcher Justin Chamorro, who threw a complete game, striking out a career-high 13 batters. He spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal about the win. 

Congratulations, Justin. How does it feel? 

Oh, it’s an urgent sense of relief. I’m so happy. It’s one win down. It was that hump that we needed to get over. I’m grateful. 

It was such a long time. How do you get through something like that game after game? 

A lot of grit, perseverance. 

It’s difficult as a team because I’m not only speaking for myself, but after so many losses, your morale starts to go down. And it’s like, “When is it gonna happen?” 

It’s only a matter of time. And that matter of time so happened to be yesterday. 

What did you learn from all of those [previous losses] as a team to get you the win this time? 

Definitely situational hitting, being smart in different counts — like the hitters knowing what counts, knowing what to expect and executing those counts. 

And as well defensively, being more well meshed together, especially when it comes down to a certain place we’d like to run or different shifts in the defence. That definitely played a key role, meshing together after all those losses, we got to feel for each other. 

At what point during the game yesterday do you feel like, “OK, this might be it”? 

When we took the lead in the seventh, in the bottom of the seventh, and I knew I was going out there for one more inning. 

I was like, “I’m going to lock down this inning and we’re going to secure this win for Lehman.” I just knew it. 

I went in there confident no matter what, and I’m just grateful that my teammates had my back and picked me up. 

And the moment you realized that you did win, I saw a little bit of a video on Instagram, there was a little bit of strut there, understandably. But what were you feeling in those moments? 

I was feeling a sense of pride, you know, being a New York native coming from the Bronx. 

This school has seen a lot of obstacles and adversity. I don’t know if you could make out, but I was just saying, “We’re here, we’re here.” 

Because we’re representing — I’m representing — this school. I’m representing everything that I’ve gone through, all the struggles that the program has gone through. We made it through. That was the daylight that we needed to see.

Earlier this week I spoke with Dan Sarmiento [who] was at the game. He’s a YouTuber, and he thought that part of the issue might have been funding. But you’re on the team — what was getting in the way of a win before now? 

That is one of the biggest issues, actually. I feel like if we had the resources we needed, we would have definitely been competing at a much higher level. 

The support has also been an issue. I mean, be it that this school is more recognized for [its] basketball and athletics component, we don’t really get that much shine and attention. 

A lot of [our] players are young. It’s rebuilding. After the year we had last year, it was difficult. 

I would say funding, support, lack of equipment, lack of resources, really, because we’re playing with our hands tied, doing what we can with what we have, so that’s really it. 

Does this feel like a turning point? 

I think so. I know for me, I hope I demonstrated to my teammates that we can definitely do this together. 

I need each and every single one of them to invest it like we were [in] the first game. We’re taking it a step at a time. 

I know coach [Chris] Delgado has invested so much of his time and he’s really put everything he has into this program where opposed to before it wasn’t that much invested into us. 

He’s really made it his business to give us nutrition plans, workouts, practices, reps. I give him a lot of props. 

What did coach Delgado say after that win? 

Congratulations on your first win, and I told him the same. We just both smiled because it was a long journey for both of us, and him being that he just recently been named head coach. It’s an accomplishment. 

What has the reaction been like on campus? I’m sure there was a lot of ribbing going on during your losing streak. 

Oh my gosh. I’m just glad to put a stop to the nonsense I was hearing around campus, all the negativity. 

The softball team was there supporting us, they were a very good support system yesterday and I’m so grateful for them. I’ve also gotten different players from different teams congratulating us and it feels different.

There’s gotta be life lessons in every one of those losses and yesterday’s win. What has this all taught you? 

Truly, I could give you the most clichéest lesson: never give up. 

But it taught me that even in the face of adversity, it builds character. All those losses build character, and all it takes is that one win to show you that it was worth it. 

All the hard work was worth it, all the effort you put into it, all that concentration you put into it, it’s all worth it in the end — even though this is just the beginning.