Strong finish for Baldwin

After not reaching the win column until the second half of April, Baldwin turned its baseball season around with a stretch of six wins in nine Conference AA-II games and qualified for the Nassau County Class AA playoffs in thrilling walk-off fashion.

The Bruins, the lowest-seeded team in the playoff bracket at No. 12, also gave fifth-seeded Plainview-JFK all it could handle in a first-round matchup May 10 before falling 2-1. The Hawks won it on a run-scoring double by Jeremy Lambert in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“It was a great game and a tough one to lose,” Baldwin coach Frank Esposito said. “We got better and better each week. It would’ve been nice to see what we could’ve done in the next round.

“The kids never stopped working,” Esposito added. “I just think it took us some time to get on track. It was a pretty young team, and once they got used to each other, things started to click.”

Baldwin’s turnaround began in the final game of its series against eventual conference champion MacArthur on April 19. The Generals were undefeated through eight games, creating the perfect storm for an upset and the Bruins picked themselves off the deck and came through. Junior Jesse Reynolds hit a grand slam to back the pitching of junior Nikko Arellano, who scattered six hits in a complete-game 8-2 victory. “That game gave us a lot of confidence moving forward,” Esposito said.

After splitting their next six games against Port Washington and Plainview, the Bruins entered their final conference series against Valley Stream Central needing two wins to secure the final AA-II playoff spot. “We put ourselves in position to have a chance at the playoffs, which is all we wanted,” Esposito said.

In the opener against the Eagles on May 5, it was Arellano again starring on the mound. He allowed six hits and a walk and struck out seven in a 12-3 road victory. Senior Matt Lyle, who led the team in hitting this spring with a .482 average, came up big at the dish with a couple of RBIs and two runs scored.

The following day, Lyle got the nod on the mound but didn’t factor in the decision as Baldwin punched its ticket to the playoffs with a come-from-behind 6-5 home victory. Sophomore Brandon Hoskins, who relieved Lyle in the sixth inning, was the offensive hero after surrendering a run in the top of the eighth that gave Central a 5-4 lead. With one out and runners on second and third, Hoskins singled to right to bring home Brian Darcy and Jeffrey Dominguez with the tying and winning runs, respectively. Junior Bayyan Ngala-El went 4-for-5 with a homer.

“I called Brandon over before he got up and asked if he wanted to try squeezing the tying run in,” Esposito said. “He said he wanted to swing.”

The Bruins came within a bounce or two from advancing in the playoffs. Arellano pitched a gem, but the offense couldn’t deliver in the sixth with runners on second and third and one out.