For 40 minutes, Lehman remained on the College of Staten Island field dousing one another with water, playfully throwing jabs at one another, and soaking in the moment.
The eighth-seeded Lions had just reached the PSAL Class A final by holding off No. 4 James Madison,10-6, in the third and final game of the best-of-three playoff series. They spent that time meeting down the right-field line and giving each other hugs and back slaps.
“I’ve never celebrated that much in my life,” junior catcher Andy Ramos said. “Not even Little League. We were so happy.”
If the Lions, all 21 of them, seemed like best friends, it’s because they are.
“That’s the main reason we are here,” coach Adam Droz said, “because we are together.”
It’s cliché, but true when it comes to Lehman (18-4). The team talked about its close bond in preseason, credited the closeness during rough times in the middle of the year, and focused on it again Sunday, after reached the title game for the first time since 2002.
The Lions have spent almost the entire spring as one. Beyond baseball, they go to the movies and parties together, have meals with one another, they even stuck by each other’s side at prom. Star first baseman and ace left-hander Tyler Gurman often hosts up to 12 teammates in the basement of his home nearby school. No invitations are needed.
“If you want to come, you come,” he said. “We find room for you.
“This,” Gurman added, “is a family.”
Gurman’s father, Wayne, said he would host the entire team if they could win one more.
“We’ll have a big party,” he promised.
That togetherness enabled Lehman to battle through adversity. There were rough moments this spring. Lehman needed to sweep John F. Kennedy the last week of the regular season to win the Bronx A West crown.
It dropped a heartbreaking home game to rival DeWitt Clinton April 14, blowing a bases loaded, no-out situation in the bottom of the seventh. There was a one-run loss to Morris May 6 and run-rule setback against Monroe April 29. Then came Saturday’s 13-12 loss to Madison, when the Lions blew a four-run, fifth-inning cushion.
Whereas other teams may let the losses fester, creating a snowball effect, the Lions comfort one another in times of despair.
“We click, we know how each other plays,” first baseman/right-hander Laurence Marsach said. “I love these guys. They are like my brothers.”
The team’s chemistry, Gurman said, is why he thinks this has been a special year. Friendships off the field translate into production on it, he said. When someone makes an error or strikes out, they are encouraged, not ridiculed.
“We love to laugh,” Gurman said. “There are no groups or cliques of friends, like every other team I’ve been on. It’s just amazing — the best year of my life.”