Sports

PSAL Class A baseball playoff roundup: Nunez pitches No. 6 Morris into quarterfinals

Rich Corbo wanted to see Arismendy Nunez, his ace right-hander, warm up Friday afternoon before committing to the senior with the sore ankle. The Morris coach was ready to give Nunez the ball if he was at 70 or 80 percent, but Nunez looked even better than that.

“The rock is yours,” Corbo told him. “You deserve it.”

Nunez didn’t disappoint, tossing five shutout innings as No. 6 Morris advanced past 22nd-seeded Midwood, 9-0, in the second round of the PSAL Class A playoffs. The Bulldogs meet No. 3 Tottenville in the quarterfinals June 1 in a rematch from last year’s postseason, won by the Pirates. Nunez struck out 11 and allowed just three hits agains the Hornets, who fell to 11-7.

“He was impressive today,” Corbo said. “He wasn’t 100 percent, but he pushed off the rubber well.”

The Bulldogs (16-2) gave him more than enough support. Raiky Ortiz doubled, tripled, and drove in two runs, Emmanuel Mendez had two hits and two RBIs, Nunez added two hits and an RBI, and leadoff man Jose Manuel Ortiz contributed four stolen bases.

Just two years removed from winning a PSAL B crown, the Bulldogs have established themselves as one of the premier programs in the ‘A’ division. They went 14-2 in Bronx A East – their only two losses came to top-seeded James Monroe – which included victories over DeWitt Clinton, Lehman, Gompers, Walton, and John F. Kennedy. That momentum has carried over into the postseason.

“The kids have a lot of heart and they have a lot of pride,” Corbo said. “They believe in themselves. They know how to play the game. It doesn’t matter what league we’re in. This is where all good teams are. If we want to get to the point where our team is respected and getting players, we need to beat teams of [Tottenville’s] caliber. We can play on the same field as them.”

Tottenville 6, Beacon 1: George Kantzian had two hits and two RBIs, Gil Mendoza and Thomas Kain each scored twice, and Stephen Mattina allowed one earned run in 6-1/3 and struck out three for No. 3 Tottenville (19-1). The Pirates face No. 6 Morris on June 1 in the quarterfinals. No. 14 Beacon is 13-5.

Grand Street Campus 14, Brooklyn Tech 7: Ernesto Lopez had two hits and three RBIs, Jose Zuniga and Williams Jerez each drove in two runs, and Jose Cuas scored twice for No. 7 Grand Street, which scored nine runs in the second inning. The Wolves (18-0) meet No. 2 George Washington June 1 in the quarterfinals. No. 23 Brooklyn Tech is 11-7.

Norman Thomas 9, Stuyvesant 1: Alberto Morales and Alex Triunful drove in two runs apiece, Miguel Reyes and Eugenio Mesa scored twice, and Johnny Pimentel allowed five hits and struck out five in six innings for the win for fifth-seeded Norman Thomas (16-2), which meets No. 4 James Madison in the quarterfinals June 1. No. 21 Stuyvesant is 11-7.

Lehman 9, South Bronx 3: The eighth-seeded Lions (15-3) broke open a tight game with four runs in the sixth inning to advance to the quarterfinals June 1 against top-seeded James Monroe. No. 24 South Bronx fell t0 9-9.

zbraziller@nypost.com