By Dylan Butler
Heading into the final day of the 32nd annual Monroe Holiday Baseball Tournament Saturday, John Adams was in the driver’s seat as the lone undefeated team. Six hours later, the Spartans were ousted, losing a pair of games to DeWitt Clinton and host James Monroe in the Bronx.
But instead of speaking about a disappointing end to their first entry into the Monroe tournament, widely regarded as the top baseball tournament in the city, Adams head coach Glenn Beyer was upbeat and jovial after his team’s third-place finish.
“We accomplished our goals here,” he said. “We wanted to be competitive and obviously we did very well.”
While the short-term goal of winning the Monroe tournament wasn’t met, Beyer and the Spartans were more concerned with the long-term goal of winning the Queens A-I crown and then the PSAL title. And they were especially concerned with two critical league games this week against Grand Street Campus.
“I’m very happy,” Beyer said. “Obviously the ultimate goal was to win the championship, but we played the best teams, we were mentally tough, we played every day and most importantly heading into the league games this week, we kept our pitching staff intact.”
As pleased as he was when the tournament was over, Beyer was not a happy man after Adams (16-3) was uncharacteristically flat in a 7-0 loss to Clinton. The Spartans, usually one of the most defensively sound teams in the city, made five errors — three in the second inning — in the loss to the Governors.
“It was a domino effect,” Beyer said. “We weren’t playing fundamental defense.”
Leading 2-0 after one inning, Clinton (15-4) jumped all over Adams in the second, scoring four runs on two hits while the Spartans committed three errors. Renso Hidalgo delivered the big blow for the Governors, taking Kervin King’s 0-2 pitch over the right field fence for a two-run home run.
Adams also struggled at the plate against Brian Gomez, who was effective but not overpowering. Gomez gave up just four hits — two in the seventh inning — and struck out six to earn the win and keep Clinton alive in the tournament.
“We came in and felt good, we felt we good beat Clinton,” said Adams sophomore Johnny Lluberes. “We weren’t mentally strong enough to beat them.”
The loss meant Adams had to come right back and face a rested Monroe team in an elimination game. It was a match up of the 1999 PSAL champs and the defending city champs and it was played like it was a playoff game.
Monroe (11-3-1) opened up a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI-single to right by Felix Berrios and a sacrifice fly by Pablo Trinidad. Juan Veras’ run-scoring single up the middle in the second put the Eagles ahead 3-0. And with Monroe’s ace Randy Guzman striking out three of the first seven Spartans batters, it looked like Adams would be in for a long game.
But the Spartans clawed their way back. Lluberes’ one-out double to right moved Jose Soriano to third. Carlos Guzman followed with a two-run single to center as Adams cut its deficit to 3-2.
In the fourth inning Nick Treppiedi reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, got to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield error to tie the score at 3.
Junior reliever Mark Rios, who pitched one inning in the opening game and got the save in Friday’s 4-3 win over Cardozo, was back on the mound in the fourth inning, replacing Treppiedi. Rios was solid again for the Spartans, tossing three innings of scoreless ball.
With the game still tied at 3 with one out in the top of the seventh inning, Victor Liriano grounded the ball to second. Soriano picked up the ball and tossed to Mike Corcoran. But Corcoran, usually a second baseman, ranged slightly to his left and dropped the ball. It was Adams’ first error of the game, but it proved to be a costly one.
Rios got Trinidad to pop out to left field, but then he walked Joel Cabreja. Both runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Guzman helped out his own cause and crushed a Rios fastball to centerfield for a two-run single to give Monroe a 5-3 lead.
“I wasn’t tired, I thought I was throwing harder as the game went on,” Rios said. “He just caught up with my fastball. It was supposed to be high, but it ended up being low.”
Monroe went on to win the tournament, beating Bronx rival Clinton, 6-3 while Adams had Easter Sunday to rest before taking on Grand Street Campus twice during the week.
“We never felt down until the final out,” Lluberes said. “Our pride is still up even after two tough losses. After those games we know what we have to do against Grand Street Campus. We have to try and not make as many errors.”
Adams 4, Cardozo 3. It was a matchup of the only two undefeated teams in the Monroe tournament Friday. Both teams were ready to go at Clinton High School in the Bronx Friday morning at 9, but because of a muddy infield, Pete Douglas and his Judges and Beyer’s Spartans instead waited. And waited and waited and waited. Finally at noon, the game was moved to a 3:30 p.m. start at James Monroe.
The Spartans erased an early 2-0 deficit with Sean Bell’s opposite field solo home run in the third inning and a three-run fifth inning, capped by Lluberes’ two-run single.
Monroe 13, Cardozo 4. The Judges, still reeling from their first loss in the tournament, had to take the field immediately following the loss and were crushed by the host Eagles Friday. Monroe scored seven runs in the first inning, including a 380-foot home run by Berrios as Eagles coach Mike Turo celebrated his 600th career win. Cardozo fell to 8-4.
Forest Hills 6, Flushing 4. Kenny Vazquez was the winner, going 5.1 innings and Luca Parachieaiou earned the save for the Rangers (7-6-1, 4-0 Queens B-II). John Scherer had two RBIs and a triple for Forest Hills.
LIC 12, Bryant 1. Brian O’Lenecke struck out eight and allowed one hit to lead Long Island City (5-5, 3-2 Queens A-II) to a five-inning win. David Mercado was the offensive star for the Bulldogs, belting two home runs — including a first inning grand slam — and six RBIs while Tamas Rojas went 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
Jamaica 13, Springfield Gardens 0. Andre Cummings had 12 strikeouts to lead Jamaica (4-2, 3-1 Queens B-I).
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
