Malverne ready for stretch run

Count Joe Dunn among the people who are very happy about the warm weather finally arriving on Long Island. 

The cold, snowy and rainy weather that has plagued the area at the beginning of spring has forced the Malverne baseball coach to adjust his lineup and force his starting pitchers into shorter outings than he originally hoped. The result is still a respectable 5-6-1 record, but the Mules had leads in four of the losses and the tie.

“We’ve been keeping our pitchers on a pitch count early on in the year and try to save them for the playoffs,” Dunn said. “We’re in the games early in the first four innings, but we’ve been battling with our bullpen trying to be able to secure wins.”

With temperatures expected to reach the middle to upper 70s this week, Dunn is ready to extend his hurlers’ innings over the team’s last five games.

“Our pitchers’ arm strengths seem to be getting better now,” Dunn said. “When it’s 30 degrees outside, you don’t need a kid throwing 100-something pitches.”

Three of Malverne’s five wins this season have been shutouts. Sophomore Timmy Bosques struck out 15 batters in five innings in the opener against Oyster Bay on March 27 and senior Alex Berry and Sam Bosques combined on a four-hitter the next day against the Baymen. Still winless Oyster Bay was victimized again by freshman Miles Tyson when he fanned seven over six innings on April 18.

Timmy Bosques has three wins this season, which also included a complete game five-hitter in a 3-2 win over East Rockaway on April 10 and a five-inning, seven-strikeout effort in a 11-3 win over the Baymen on April 21. In the latter game, he helped his own cause by going 3-for-4 with two RBIs at the plate and also drove in four runs in the opener.

Berry homered against Oyster Bay on April 21 and, like Timmy Bosques, have on-base percentages well over .500. They have set the table for other hitters as well.

“Any time Alex gets on base, Timmy either gets a base hit or he gets on base and Josh Hillel [gets them in],” Dunn explained. “Even Mike Warshaw is hitting pretty well. He’s been driving in runs consistently.”

Warshaw moved to the infield this year from left field to accommodate junior Brandon Saunders, who produced one of the top highlights of the season in the win over East Rockaway. With Malverne leading 2-1 in the fifth inning, he reached over the fence to rob Dylan Henshaw of a home run that prevented the Rocks from taking the lead. 

“It was the greatest catch I’ve ever seen,” Dunn said. “In person, at any level, major league baseball, college, I’m telling you it was THE greatest catch I’ve ever seen.”

Henshaw’s drive did result in a sacrifice fly that tied the game, but Kam Hall singled in what proved to be the winning run for the Mules in the bottom of the sixth.