Grand Street Campus entered Saturday’s exhibition as though it were a playoff game.
Knowing that its matchup could be a potential postseason preview, the Wolves top four pitchers took center stage, and each one looked dominant in a 2-1 victory in non-league baseball action against another PSAL powerhouse in Cardozo in Brooklyn.
Each pitcher had a 30-pitch limit and Gerry Gonzalez started the game, pitching two strong no-hit innings before turning it over to Alex Cuas who allowed one run on two hits while striking out three en route to getting the win.
“The pitching is strong and it’s been strong all year,” Cuas said. “The pitching staff is up there in the top of the league. We came out here and did our job. It was like a playoff atmosphere today.”
Grant Street could very well end up facing Cardozo in the playoffs and if so Saturday was a nice preview for the two teams.
“We set up these games for a reason,” Grand Street coach Melvin Martinez said. “This is to get us ready for the best part of the season and get us ready for the end of the season and the playoffs. Our pitching staff threw great today.”
While pitching was strong for Grand Street it was also strong for Cardozo as both teams struggled on offense. Keith Rogers did the bulk of the pitching for Cardozo going five innings and letting up just two runs on three hits and a strikeout before Alex Torres took over in the sixth.
With the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the fifth, Rogers found himself in a bases-loaded jam with no outs when catcher Ernesto Lopez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Elijah Rodriguez with what ended up being the winning run. Rogers got out of the inning by getting Kelvin Flores to fly out and then striking out Gonzalez looking.
“We threw our number five pitcher and I was very impressed,” Cardozo coach Ron Gorecki said.
Cardozo had starters play the field on the odd-numbered innings and switched them with subs for the even numbered innings. The Judges had a pair of base running blunders in the game. In the first inning, Christopher Campbell was picked off at third base by Lopez to end the inning. In the third, Connor Doyle was picked off at first by Cuas.
“We made a couple of bad plays in the field with pickoffs,” Gorecki said. “But this is learning, that’s why we have these games. We’re teaching during games so they make mistakes like this.”
Grand Street drew first blood when Flores hit a triple in the second inning and then came around to score when Gonzalez hit into a fielder’s choice. Cardozo evened things up in the fifth when Sean Karol scored on a fielder’s choice by Brandon Vanwert.
After the Wolves took the lead for good, Willie Santana and Jason Plasencia both pitched scoreless innings to close it out, though Cardozo had the tying run at third before Calvin Luk grounded out to end the game.
Grand Street hopes that its pitching will continue to dominate during a crucial stretch run to the playoffs.
“This is a big boost and it’s always good to beat a good team like that,” Gonzalez said. “Our pitching has been a strength for us all season.”