By Brian Towey
Jonathan Scherer is not an imposing figure in the batter’s box.
The Forest Hills High School second baseman does not make pitchers bristle with fear as he strides to the plate.
But during Saturday’s match-up between the Whitestone Renegades and the Queens Senior Division All-Star team at St. John’s University, the 16-year-old changed the complexion of the game with one swing.
Faced with a 3-1 deficit entering the bottom of the seventh, Luis Soto led off the inning with a single, promptly stealing second. Up stepped Scherer, looking to extend the rally.
Pitcher Jay Andujar grooved a fastball to Scherer, who crushed a drive to left-center that kept carrying until it cleared the left field fence, eventually recovered on Utopia Parkway. The homer evened the game at 3-3 and helped propel the Renegades to a dramatic seventh-inning victory.
“I was actually told to bunt,” Scherer said. “And I just wanted to hit a single to knock the run in. [Andujar] wound up throwing me a 3-1 pitch right down the middle.”
Early on, the Renegades offense showed little that would foreshadow the team’s late-inning outburst. The All-Stars shuffled pitchers in and out during each inning, with each pinning down the Renegades line-up.
The All-Stars struck first in the top half of the first, as Jason Tenorio reached on second baseman Mike Gerena’s error. Gerena stole second and ultimately came on to score on Alfredo Carreon’s single up the middle, giving the All-Stars a 1-0 lead.
After adding another run in the second, the All-Stars tacked on a third run in the top of the fourth when Steve Dedman, pinch running for Jason Brunson, stole second and then swiped third. After Renegades’ pitcher Chaim Malka walked Carreon to put runners at the corners with no outs, Malka balked in Dedman from third, putting the All-Stars up 3-0.
Malka settled down to induce Miguel Rodriguez to ground out to second, which advanced Carreon to third, struck out Tenorio and got Andujar to ground out to short, as the All-Stars stranded a runner on third, yet entered the bottom of the fourth with a 3-0 lead.
After both line-ups were kept at bay in the fifth, Whitestone threatened in the bottom half of the sixth. With one out, Jose Ortiz lined a ball down the right-field line for a hit. Joel Ramirez followed by skying a pop-up that the shortstop lost in the lights, the ball falling at his feet, but recovered in time to force out Ortiz at second. After Ramirez stole second, Andrew Green hit a ball up the middle that he beat out for a hit, Ramirez coming around to score from second, putting the Renegades on the board at 3-1.
After the All-Stars were held scoreless in the top half of the seventh, Scherer knotted the game at three with his blast. Following the home run, Denny Vasquez drew a walk and promptly stole second. After Robert Sorba struck out, Soto walked, putting runners on first and second with one out. Steven Haimeck followed by hitting a ball up the middle that the second baseman snagged, but his throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, glancing off his glove. As the ball trickled away, Vasquez came all the way around from second, scoring with a head-first lunge and giving the Renegades a 4-3 come-from-behind victory.
Renegade Manager Sal Chiaravalloti was pleased with his team’s resilience and praised his club’s inspired effort.
“I’m very proud of my guys because we beat a team that was five teams combined,” Chiaravalloti said. “That’s what makes me extra proud.”
The Senior Division match-up capped off a successful trio of games Saturday. The earlier match-ups included a 2 p.m. showdown between the Met Division Queens All-Stars and the Met Division Brooklyn All-Stars that the Brooklyn contingent claimed, 7-1, while the 5 p.m. match-up pitted a Junior Division All-Star team from Brooklyn against a combined Bronx/Queens club composed of players from the Bronx Mets and Garity Post. The Brooklyn team took the second game decisively, winning by a 9-3 count.
“We saw some great baseball today,” said Al Poltie, commissioner of the Queens Kiwanis Sports Association. “The kids really enjoy playing here. We hope to do it again next year.”
Reach contributing writer Brian Towey by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
