George Washington catcher Jordan Polanco pumps his fist after a big out. (denis gostev)
Steve Mandl loves facing James Monroe.
The George Washington baseball coach has many of the Eagles in the summer with the New York Nine travel organization and the games are often intense and competitive, going down to the final out.
There is, of course, one downside: losing to them.
George Washington has dropped two straight to Monroe, last year’s PSAL Class A runner-up. Sunday, the Trojans blew an early three-run lead, nearly pulled off a furious seventh-inning rally before falling, 8-7, in a non-league game in Washington Heights.
“It’s frustrating to lose to anybody,” he said. “But you want to beat the better teams.”
Just three batters into the home first, the Trojans had battered Eagles ace Jesus Vasquez, one of the several New York Nine members, for three runs on two hits, including a Nelson Rodriguez two-run triple.
They managed just two more runs off Vasquez the rest of the way – one unearned and another after the bulldog of a right-hander had departed.
George Washington starter Nestor Bautista, meanwhile, got off to a quick start, but failed to get out of the sixth inning. He allowed a pair of opposite-field home runs to leadoff man Vladimir Gomez and catcher Cruz Resto in the third. Although the two runs that crossed were unearned in the fifth because of backup third baseman Jorge Toribio’s throwing error, Bautista did walk Gomez and hit Melvin Garcia to start the frame. In the sixth, Vasquez drove in Ricky Batista, who had tripled off Bautista to give Monroe a 6-4 lead.
“I made a few mistakes with a few pitches,” said the southpaw, who also lost to Monroe in last year’s quarterfinals.
The Trojans’ loaded lineup nearly bailed him out in the seventh. Second baseman Xyruse Martinez went the other way with a Jesus Brito high fastball for a three-run homer to the smallest part of the ballpark to cut the lead to 8-7. Antonio walked with one out, but Resto, Monroe’s hard-throwing closer, stranded him at third by retiring Rodriguez and catcher Jordan Polanco on groundouts.
“We’re kind of disappointed, but it’s baseball, you got to learn how to lose to learn how to win,” Martinez said. “We can’t let this happen twice.”
George Washington, ranked 23rd in the nation by USA Today, hasn’t lose often this year – just three times in 26 games. The Trojans have gotten off to a torrid 4-0 start in league play, winning by a combined 37-3. Yet, the loss to Monroe stung. Mandl spoke to his players for 30 minutes after the defeat They would like to see the Eagles again.
“It’s OK they beat us now,” Antonio said. “They’re not better than us. In the playoffs or the championship game, it will be a different story.”