Orlando Collado scores a run for St. Raymond. (Robert Cole)
Adam De La Cruz was brought onto the varsity this spring to supply pitching depth. He’s done that, serving as one of St. Raymond’s top starters. But he’s been just as important in the Ravens’ potent batting order.
That was evident in No. 2 St. Raymond’s 7-5 come-from-behind win over No. 7 Molloy at Fordham University in the CHSAA Class AA baseball double-elimination championship round. The sophomore had three hits and four RBIs, including the game-tying two-run single in St. Ray’s momentum-turning, five-run fifth inning.
The performance hardly surprised St. Raymond coach Marc DeLuca, who was impressed by De La Cruz from the get-go during fall ball.
“He hasn’t played like a sophomore,” the coach said. “He carries himself like he’s a senior. … He’s earned his stripes. You could see right away the kid is a special player.”
Staff ace Anthony Colon made the lead stand up, going the distance and striking four. The senior didn’t have his best stuff – he was tagged for five runs on seven hits – but he got better as the game went on. He worked around a walk and hits batter in the sixth, aided by De La Cruz’s running catch of a Mike O’Dwyer drive with two men aboard, and retired Chris Piteo on a fly ball to left field in the seventh to close out the victory.
“The guys battled for me,” Colon said. “I had to dig deep and battle for them.”
Meanwhile, it was a lost opportunity for Molloy, which took a 5-2 lead in the top of the fifth after pinch hitter John Sideris’ two-run double. Starter Donovan Armas couldn’t hold it. Molloy coach Jack Curran thought he fell in love with his breaking ball and when he did go to his fastball he got too much of the plate.
As a result, Molloy (14-7) finds itself in the loser’s bracket, one defeat away from elimination. It will meet No. 3 Moore Catholic at St. John’s at 4 p.m.
“We’ve won it in both – we’ve won it in the winner’s bracket and we’ve won it in the loser’s bracket,” Curran said. “You can’t worry about it, just have to play the next game.”
St. Ray’s (14-5) advances in the championship round to face No. 6 Iona Prep on Thursday at 4 p.m., back at Fordham. DeLuca said De La Cruz may get the ball against the Gaels. He did plenty of damage at the plate on Wednesday, singling in a run in each of his first two at-bats and then rifling an Armas offering down the line to tie the game in the fifth.
“I kept the same approach I had all season, first fastball I see, hit it hard somewhere and that’s what I did,” he said.
At that point, Piteo came on for Armas, walked David Sanchez and uncorked a wild pitch, enabling Leo Bravo to score the go-ahead run. Julian Monserrate followed with a sacrifice fly that scored De La Cruz .
“Everybody can hit on this team and that’s what makes us such a good team,” De La Cruz said. “We knew we needed to come up big and the bats needed to wake up, and that’s exactly what happened.”
It wasn’t an elimination game, but winning the opener keeps the Ravens in the winner’s bracket, significant considering St. Ray’s isn’t blessed with an overly deep pitching staff.
“The big one is the first one,” DeLuca said. “You put yourself in a good position.”