Baldwin holds off V.S. Central

Baldwin’s baseball team notched an impressive victory over Valley Stream Central on April 14 at Firemen’s Field, 5-4.
The Bruins took the lead early and managed to hold off what was a resilient Eagles’ squad in the finale of a Conference AA-2 series. Baldwin coach Frank Esposito saw more positives than anything else in what proved to be a tough matchup.
“Derek gave us five great innings,” Esposito said of senior pitcher Derek Watts. “We made a couple of fielding mistakes that gave them their inning where we gave up three runs,” he added. “But they didn’t give up. They got back up the next inning got another couple of runs and then held the lead.”
At the plate, Baldwin strung together quality at bats to complete a three-game series sweep. Sophomore Michael Jayzlo crushed a two-run home run in the first inning to get the scoring started. The bats went a little quiet thereafter, but then the visitors managed to put up three runs in the sixth inning. In the sixth, sophomores Christopher Stegmuller and Michael Jayzlo and seniors Jimmy Manzella and Watts all strung together singles to highlight the rally.
Baldwin never relinquished the lead following the Jayzlo home run, and a good deal of the credit goes to the pitching. Watts was nearly untouchable through the first three innings. He finished the game with 5.2 innings pitched and finished with the win. Sophomore Courtney Jordan came into pitch following Watts and did not surrender a hit in his four outs out of the bullpen

For Valley Stream Central, it just couldn’t complete the comeback despite a valiant effort. Eagles coach Frank Klimuszko was impressed with his group’s resiliency despite the unfortunate result. 
“We never quit,” Klimuszko said. “Baldwin is a good team, and we have a had a couple good games with them but today we just made some blunders here and there.”
Starting pitcher Victor Acosta, an eighth-grader called up from JV, rebounded well from the first-inning home run and kept Valley Stream Central in the game. He worked a solid six innings.
The Eagles’ bats were quiet through three innings l, but then managed to put together some hits and put some runs on the board. Senior Roy Longarzo Jr. was a major catalyst for the offense, as his single in the fourth inning and his walk in the sixth inning lead off and sparked both of Central’s big innings. He also stole a base. Senior Nicolas Torres had a big double in the sixth. Acosta also had a well hit RBI double in the fourth which brought some life to the previously dormant squad. 
Going forward, Klimuszko wants to see the team improve in the field, as errors have been an issue up to this point,
“We have to tighten up our defense,” Klimuszko said. “It’s getting us in some trouble every once and a while, but we will work on that.”
Baldwin faces Herricks twice this week, while Valley Stream Central gets Hicksville.