Baldwin working to get better

Even in the best of circumstances, trying to win baseball games is a precarious proposition. The game is too exacting. There are too many things that can go wrong and that little white ball can be pretty elusive. Besides that, the other team is trying too. All you can do in times of trouble is try again the next day or else quit and take up a less discouraging sport, like golf.

Baldwin coach Frank Esposito believes in sticking with it, despite his team’s 2-8 start, including a 9-3 loss to Farmingdale on April 19.

“We’ll just get ready to play the next one,” he said. 

That’s what you do when you have a young and struggling team, and the Bruins are especially young. On most days Danny DeGregorio is the only senior in the starting lineup. Esposito knew from the onset that there would be a learning curve with this group, but he said he was encouraged by the level of talent and level of commitment. He still is.

“We’re young and we’re making little mistakes that have hurt us,” Esposito said. “But we’re getting better. We’re working hard to get better. They’re a good group of boys and they’re going to get better.”

The most-recent loss to Farmingdale was the Bruins’ third straight setback in the series, though they were in every game. After losing the first game in the series 8-3, they took a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning of the second game, only to lose 6-3 when the Dalers (7-1, including 5-1 in Conference AA-I) came up with the big hits they couldn’t. They also took a 3-1 lead into the fifth inning of the final game, but then yielded eight unanswered runs. It wasn’t quite the Red Sox seeing a 9-0 lead turn into a 15-9 deficit in the span of two innings, but it hurt. 

The Bruins were scheduled to play at Massapequa (5-5, including 4-2) in a three-game series starting on Monday, weather permitting.

The Bruins got off to the kind of start they’d hoped for when they beat Freeport 11-7 on March 24. In that game, junior outfielder Ryan Mahoney smashed a sixth-inning grand slam, turning a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 lead. Matt Kelleher earned the win. Four days later, they lost for the first time in 2012 when they managed two hits while striking out ten times in a 10-4 defeat to East Meadow. They lost their next four as well, and trailed Syosset as late as the fourth inning on April 13. But Nico Arelliano’s three-run triple in the fourth gave the Bruins an 8-6 lead and they held on to win, 8-7. This time the winning pitcher was Matt Lyle.

The Bruins lost their momentum against Farmingdale, but Esposito’s team was ready to get right back at it with nine games yet to play.

“We’re not giving up,” he said. “In our conference, the top four teams make the playoffs.”