Grand Street coach Melvin Martinez hugs his father Eudalio Martinez, who is battling leukemia. (Christina Santucci)
Grand Street’s Gerry Gonzalez tossed a four-hitter. (Christina Santucci)
With tears in his eyes, his jubilant team around him and his ill father by his side, Melvin Martinez hoisted the PSAL Class A baseball championship plaque and yelled as loud as he could to the joy of the large baby blue-clad Grand Street Campus contingent.
After so many years of playoff disappointment, after nearly retiring from the frustration of such defeats, the Grand Street coach was finally a winner Friday night in his 17th season.
Behind brilliant senior ace Gerry Gonzalez, the second-seeded Wolves held off No. 4 George Washington, 2-1, to win the school’s first baseball title at MCU Park in Coney Island.
“All I could do was just scream,” he said, as tears rolled down his cheeks. “The crowd filled me with emotion.”
Intensifying matters, Martinez’s sick 70-year-old father, Eudalio, made a surprise appearance. Also on hand was 7-year-old Quinton Ward, a player on Martinez’s Little League team who is battling Stage 3 lymphoma. Eudalio is fighting leukemia and underwent chemotherapy on Friday.
Yet, there he was in the front row, right next to the Grand Street dugout keeping the pitch count, as he has done so often for Grand Street.
“When I saw my uncle and my mother bringing my father down the steps, my jaw just dropped,” Melvin Martinez said. “When we saw him, it was another boost of energy.”
Kevin Martir, who became the first player in recent memory to win a CHSAA title and PSAL title in back-to-back years, drove in the game’s first run with a run-scoring triple in the first inning and Ernesto Lopez homered off GW (19-3) starter Edwin Corniel over the left-field wall, a good 350 feet away, in the fourth.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was running around the bases so excited.”
It was all the support Gonzalez would need. He scattered four hits, struck out three and walked one for his third victory of the playoffs against the potent Trojans.
“It was one of the days all my pitches were working,” he said. “I knew I needed a performance like this.”
Gonzalez worked backwards – curveball and changeups when he was ahead in the court, fastballs when he was behind. Such a game plan would’ve been impossible a year ago, when he relied heavily on his fastball. Gonzalez became a pitcher this year, trusting his command and location rather than worrying about velocity.
“He matured – he absolutely matured,” Melvin Martinez said.
He kept GW off balance the entire evening with the repertoire, holding the powerful lineup, which had scored 49 runs in five previous playoff contests, without an extra-base hit. Even in the fifth inning, when the Trojans scored, Gonzalez impressed. After allowing three singles, including a run-scoring hit by Henry Rodriguez, he got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by getting Randy Rodriguez on a popup and Michael Richardson on a comebacker.
“I had to make perfect pitches in perfect situations,” he said.
There were tense moments in the seventh after Bryan Mejia reached on Martir’s throwing error. With one out, Gonzalez plunked pinch-hitter Yasmany Gomez, but he retired Henry Rodriguez on a line out to right field and induced Randy Rodriguez into a comebacker to the left side of the mound.
Upon fielding the ball, Gonzalez lofted the throw to first, probably the most inaccurate throw he made all night. First baseman Kelvin Flores had to reach up for the ball, but he came down with it for the out, starting a raucous celebration.
“I’ll take this with me the rest of my life,” Lopez said. “I never heard a stadium that loud.”
It was emotional for Grand Street (21-1), which was swept by Tottenville at MCU Park in last year’s semifinals. After the second defeat, Melvin Martinez nearly retired, thinking his team needed a new voice. His players begged him to stay.
He was back at MCU Park on Friday, only this time he not left the Brooklyn Cyclones’ ballpark a winner, but also a champion.
“There are no words to even explain the joy I felt after we got that third out,” Martinez said. “It was 17 years.”