Baldwin showing its versatility

It may have taken Mother Nature some time to realize that spring was here, but Baldwin’s baseball team certainly hasn’t forgotten what season it is. The Bruins have come out in midseason form, winning five of their first seven games all against teams one division higher in Class AA.

Though a 13-0 loss to Syosset on April 16 snapped a four-game winning streak, it didn’t dampen the mood ahead of a final crossover series with Farmingdale. “These are big wins,” Baldwin coach Frank Esposito said. “These are huge wins.”

Baldwin’s won with pitching (junior Brandon Hoskins has yet to allow a run out of the bullpen) and defense (the corners in particular, sophomores Fred Lucas and Stephen Strategakos, have played well) and big offensive outputs and even scratched out a pair of come-from-behind wins, including a 4-3 thriller against the Braves on April 14. A one-out single by junior Bayyan Ngala-El, in the bottom of the seventh plated Hoskins, who doubled two batters earlier, with the game-winning run. Sandwiched in between was a single by junior Jeffrey Dominguez that advanced Hoskins—2-for-3 in the game with a pair of doubles and runs—to third.

The rally started in the sixth when Dominguez’s lead-off single was followed by consecutive singles from Ngala-El--whose speed and power to the gaps helps him turn singles into doubles and be aggressive on the basepaths--and senior Lucas Sullivan and a two-run double by senior Nikko Arellano that tied the game, 3-3. “The guys aren’t looking to put the ball out of the park or their own individual stuff,” Esposito said. “If they have to move a runner over and bunt, they’ll bunt.”

Teamwork has been at the root of the Bruins’ success, and it has all started on the practice field where it’s never too early to field ground balls or get in the batting cage. In fact, it was a team effort that helped spur the Bruins early season winning streak that started with a comeback at Massapequa in the third game of the season. After dropping an 11-3 decision in the series opener on March 30, Baldwin battled back for a 14-10 victory in the next game three days later even after digging a five-run hole by the fourth inning.

“We chipped away and we beat them,” Esposito said, noting the team scored four runs in the fourth, seven in the fifth and three more in the sixth. “It was a good battle at their field. I think in that second game we started becoming a team.”

Dominguez finished the comeback win with a double among his four hits, drove in three runs and also scored three times. Lucas was also 4-for-4 with a double, four RBIS and a pair of runs scored.

The Bruins kick off the Conference AA-II portion of their schedule with a three-game set against Hicksville that starts on Monday at home and continues on the road the next day. The series concludes on April 30 at Baldwin.