Cardinal Newman Survives With 9-8 Win Over JIL

Cardinal Newman’s Bruce Steel scores the first of eight runs in the sixth inning. Steel was 2-for-4.

Cardinal Newman Manager Sean Comfort was not happy with his team’s flat play.

With his team trailing late in the game, the first-year Crusaders manager challenged his team to wake up and play their style of baseball.

The players responded with an eight-run sixth inning, then held off a late rally to hold on for a 9-8 victory over John I. Leonard, in the second day of action in the GGI Baseball Classic played Tuesday morning at Dave Manzo Field in Lake Worth.

“We came out flat again,” said Comfort, after the team lost to Olympic Heights on Friday night. “In the top of the fifth I reiterated that we’ve got to open up, we’ve got to play our game; otherwise I’m going to pull up the JV players and let them play. They responded.”

Newman (11-4) sent 14 batters to the plate in the sixth, and the first nine of those hitters reached base to help turn a four-run deficit into a four-run lead.

“You can’t take it away from them; they hit,” Lancers Manager Roger Vasquez said. “We made an error and it changed the whole momentum of the game.”

Leonard (7-6) took a 5-1 lead into the sixth, and after Anthony Zaleski singled to send home Bruce Steel to cut into that deficit Luis Besteiro drove a shot into the outfield that got away from the fielder to send Zaleski home and put Besteiro at third.

Suddenly the Cusaders offense had come to life, as Rudy Viton and Michael Roca followed with RBI singles, and Daniel Cole put Newman up for good with another RBI single.

Zaleski led the hit parade in going 3-for-4 with a double and two runs, while also starting the game on the mound and giving the team three solid innings in allowing two earned runs on two hits and three walks.

Viton was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, and also walked twice to reach base all four trips to the plate.

Both teams had big days offensively, as the Lancers put runners on base in every inning and battled right down to their final swings.

“They’re coming through in key situations,” Vasquez said. “That’s what we needed as our season goes on and we get towards the playoffs. That’s our goal is to win in the playoffs, and you’ve got to have clutch hitting. If we get that going we don’t have to play small-ball so much.”

Anthony Zaleski got the start for the Crusaders, throwing 62 pitches over three innings of work.

Down to their final swings in the bottom of the seventh, Leonard nearly pulled off the comeback.

Coco Abreu and Elliott Rodriguez reached to lead off the inning, and Oscar Singh drove a ball deep to right field for a triple that sent both runners across the plate. Singh then scored on a throwing error to pull the team within a run.

But Crusaders reliever Alec Duboy forced a groundout to close it out and earn the victory to improve to 3-0 on the season.

The hard-throwing lefty closed the final four innings, allowing three earned runs while scattering seven hits and striking out four.

“Duboy came in and did a nice job for us,” Comfort said. “I was proud overall of the way they played hard and came back for the win.”

Leonard took an early lead with a run in the first inning, as Adam Johnson drew a leadoff walk and worked his way around the bases before scoring on a sacrifice bunt from Abreu.

The Lancers were back at it in the third when Noel Canete drew a one-out walk and then raced from first to third on a pitch in the dirt that got away from the catcher.

Abreu then rolled a hit up the middle to bring Canete home, and later scored as well on a wild pitch. The first baseman went 3-for-3 with two runs to lead the Lancers offense.

“Our biggest thing right now is we’ve got to clean up on defense,” Vasquez said. “The pitching we’ve got, but the hitting has to come through. We are never out of a game, and I just tell these guys we’ve got to minimize the mistakes. In certain innings, when we bring in that middle reliever, he has got to be a stopper. That’s what we didn’t have today; we didn’t have a stopper.”

The Tournament continues on Wednesday as Cardinal Newman faces Atlantic and John I. Leonard plays Olympic Heights.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!