Unlikely playoff run for Baldwin

The Nassau Class AA baseball playoffs seemed more like a dream than potential reality for Baldwin after it won just one of its first nine Conference AA-I games and sat in last place with six games to go.

But the pesky Bruins “kept plugging away,” coach Frank Esposito said, and two wins and a tie with Oceanside combined with a split of two games with Freeport set up a meaningful regular-season finale with the Red Devils. “The way it turned out,” Esposito explained, “was the winner of our game against Freeport would get the final playoff spot.”

Baldwin (5-9-1 in Conference AA-I) didn’t let the unlikely berth in the playoffs slip through its grasp. Sophomore Matt Lyle pitched a six-hitter with four strikeouts and no walks to lift the Bruins to a 4-2 victory over Freeport on May 12. Less than 48 hours later, they were on a bus to Syosset for a first-round playoff game against another conference rival.

“You always hear coaches talk about how important it is to take one game at a time,” Esposito said. “I can’t give our kids enough credit. We had such a young team and they never stopped working. Coach [Steve] Carroll joined the staff around midseason and we were able to work more closely with the boys. Everything just started to come together.”

Syosset and Baldwin played three one-run games to open the conference schedule, so it was fitting the playoff matchup was also decided by the slimmest of margins. Though the host Braves, seeded sixth, got homers from John Tsiolis and Joe Morris and bolted to a 5-1 advantage, the Bruins had their bats going as well as junior Danny Capone (3-for-4, three RBIs) and junior Matt Kelleher (2-for-3, two RBIs) led a come-from-behind 7-6 triumph. Senior Kiefer Teurfs got the win on the mound in relief.

The turnaround began on the last day of April when Teurfs pitched the Bruins to an 8-3 win over Freeport. He scattered six hits and struck out nine in the complete-game effort and got offensive support from Kelleher, who cracked a three-run double in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie. 

While it would be 12 days before the three-game series with Freeport would be completed, the Bruins went almost a week between games but quickly turned their focus to Oceanside and took the first two games against Sailors before settling for a 13-13 tie in the finale. Kelleher, Lyle and Teurfs picked up wins, while Capone and Charles Cannova were the hitting stars of the series. Capone’s two-run double in the sixth inning won the opener, 4-2, and Cannova’s three-run blast proved key in a 7-3 win in the second game.

“Our pitching staff improved with experience as the season went on, and Danny [Capone] got red-hot with the bat down the stretch,” Esposito said.