Baldwin eyes strong finish

As the regular season winds down, Baldwin baseball coach Frank Esposito has his sights set on one of the top four seeds in the Nassau Class AA playoffs.

“Finishing in the top four is huge because of the first-round bye,” Esposito said after Monday’s game at Oceanside was postponed due to rain. “We’ve beaten every team with the exception of MacArthur, and we were right there with them. It’s just a matter of getting the pitching, hitting and defense going on the same day.”

The Bruins (6-6 in Conference AA-I) haven’t won or lost more than two in a row all year. “The mood isn’t bad,” Esposito said. “We haven’t fallen down the basement steps, nor have we gotten hot and hit the roof. We’re competitive every day we step on the field.”

With a starting pitching staff consisting of juniors Nick LoBello and Tom Kelleher and senior Brian Haab, Baldwin is one of the more well-armed teams in Class AA. LoBello was nothing short of dominant in his last two starts, beating Massapequa and Calhoun, while Kelleher and Haab have—in part—fallen victim to a lack of run support.

“We’re not getting as many clutch hits as we’d like, and it’s usually when Tom or Brian are pitching,” Esposito said.

Two runs is enough for LoBello it seems. He threw a four-hitter in a 6-1 win over Massapequa on April 23 and came back six days later to beat Calhoun, 5-1. “Nick’s doing a super job out there, and the defense has been great behind him,” Esposito said of LoBello, who is flashing a tremendous glove at shortstop on non-pitching days. “He’s getting ahead in the count and has every pitch 

working.”

LoBello, who along with senior third baseman Eddie Murer is batting above .500, provided himself with some run support against Calhoun by smacking three hits and scoring twice.   

Calhoun salvaged the second game of the series last Friday by scoring six runs against Kelleher in the third inning on the way to a 9-6 win. The Bruins were blanked in each of Kelleher’s two previous starts and will try to keep the bats going for him Thursday when Carey visits for a 4:30 p.m. start.

Murer has done everything in his power to take pressure off the staff, and junior catcher Louie Aponte is blocking pitches in the dirt and erasing baserunners in consistent fashion. Heading into this week’s action, Murer was tied for the county lead in home runs with five and went deep at least once against four of six opponents. He homered and drove in four runs in the series opener against Calhoun. Meanwhile, Aponte has thrown out four runners attempting to steal and picked off two. “We knew Louie had the talent,” Esposito said of Aponte, who began the spring as an outfielder. “He’s a good athlete.”