Steve Mandl knew the situation required Alexis Torres’ talents.
“I had a stud out there,” the George Washington coach said. “Why don’t I bring him in?”
Torres, who hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the sixth, has excelled in his career in pressure situations and Mandl trusted him to keep his composure after starter Kevin Torres just walked two batters with one out in the top of the seventh.
“I’m one of those players that doesn’t [crack] under pressure,” Alexis Torres said. “I feel like a bulldog out there.”
Things heated up more when he gave up a single to Telecommunications freshman first baseman Austin Ruiz, but Elijah Sanabria was held at third, loading the bases. Torres, again unshaken, proceeded to strike out the next two hitters to seal the fourth-seeded Trojans’ dramatic 4-3 win over No. 8 Telecom in Game 1 of the PSAL Class A baseball semifinals Friday at Old Boys High in Brooklyn.
“We have been through these situations,” Alexis Torres said. … “The fans think we are under pressure. We are having fun at the same time.”
It was Alexis Torres who gave his team a chance to win. He led off the bottom of the sixth just looking to get on base. Instead, he launched a Chris Lee hanging curveball close to 400 feet over the left centerfield fence to give GW a 4-3 lead. The Trojans tied the score at 3 in the fourth when Alexis Torres reached on an error by Telecom center fielder Joshua Palacios, took second for his third stolen base of the game and scored on an overthrow of third.
“We knew eventually whether they were going to give it to us or we were going to earn it we were going to score a bunch of runs,” Mandl said.
George Washington (17-3) was playing catch up most of the afternoon. The Yellow Jackets (16-3) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Samuel Marquez and a bases-loaded walk to Joshua Mercado. The Trojans got even in the third on a two-run single to center from star catcher Nelson Rodriguez. Telecom scratched out a run on a Sanabria ground out to go ahead 3-2 in the top of the fourth.
Telecom coach Ed D’Alessio was proud of his team’s effort, but would have liked a cleaner inning in the fourth when GW tied it. He didn’t second guess himself not sending Sanabria home in the seventh. D’Alessio believed the Trojans outfielders were playing in and he likely would have been thrown out at the plate.
The coach praised Lee, who kept his club in the game allowing just five hits. Telecom will throw freshman Nick Candelario against George Washington’s Edwin Corniel 2 p.m. Saturday at Lafayette in Game 2.
“He’s been giving us performances like that since he was in the school,” D’Alessio said of Lee. “We pitched good enough win. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
George Washington is hoping for one more win and a chance to defend its city crown after a thrilling, gutty victory.
“We have all the momentum into the second game,” Rodriguez said.