Thursday, October 1, 2026
Turns out a little flip of the calendar was all Lawrence needed to put everything together on the baseball diamond and get back over the .500 mark.
The Golden Tornadoes capped a perfect opening week of May last Friday with a 15-3 road victory over Conference A-III rival Westbury, upping their winning streak to three games. Junior Alvin Azcona had a huge day at the plate, going 5-for-6, including a homer, with six RBIs and three runs scored to lead a red-hot offense. The run support was more than enough for junior pitcher Brandon Burrell, who earned his first varsity win.
“We’d like to have a couple of games back, but it doesn’t work that way and it would be nice if we can finish with six wins in a row and take momentum into next year,” Lawrence coach Dennis Leonard said after the club improved to 6-5.
“We had tough one-run losses to Valley Stream South and Roslyn, but in fairness we had a walk-off win against Great Neck North,” he added. “We’ve been competitive with everyone and learned to stay in games.”
The speedy Azcona’s performance against Westbury was his best in two years at the varsity level. He bats in the leadoff spot and patrols center field for the Golden Tornadoes, who also knocked off the Green Dragons on May 4, 8-3, and romped Roosevelt, 15-0, a few days later.
Each of their starting pitchers picked up a ‘W’ during the streak. Senior David Baruch, a three-year varsity starter and standout shortstop when he’s not on the mound, scattered four hits—all singles—didn’t allow an earned run and struck out 11 in the first game against Westbury. “David hasn’t had a blow-up game all year,” Leonard said. “He’s consistently throwing strikes and keeping hitters off-balance. He developed a nice change-up this year.”
Baruch also raised his average to over .300 at the dish with a 4-for-4 day against Roosevelt to back sophomore hurler A.J. Gallo, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and settled for a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts. “A.J. has a nice fastball and curve,” Leonard said. “He’s gotten strong the last couple of outings.”
With a “classic lefty swing” according to Leonard, Gallo, who plays second base when Baruch and Burrell pitch, is leading the team with a .400 batting average. Gallo has seven hits in the last three games and cracked a homer in the Westbury series. Another underclassman, freshman third baseman Eddie Robinson, is hitting at a .350 clip and getting some spot duty on the hill. “Even the grounders off Eddie’s bat are hard,” Leonard said.
Senior catcher Nick Komisarjevsky has done a solid job handling the arms, calling pitches, throwing out runners and making contact at the plate in the No. 2 hole, while juniors Jason Gray and Matt Komisarjevsky have combined to form a reliable platoon at first base.
