By Dylan Butler
Facing the intimidating Danny Rosenbluth is a tough enough task for opposing batters, but staking the hard-throwing Long Island Cardinals righty a five-run lead before he even throws a pitch? Well, that’s just asking for trouble.
Thanks to some uncharacteristically shoddy fielding, that is exactly what the Bayside Yankees Junior Americans did Monday at Francis Lewis High School. Three errors and a couple more mental boo-boos, and the Cardinals led 5-0 after a half of an inning.
From there, it was all Rosenbluth, who baffled Bayside through five innings, tossing a no-hitter, only letting up a third-inning walk and striking out eight to lead the Cardinals to a surprisingly easy 9-0 win.
Frank Coppola finished off the Yankees with two innings of no-hit ball, giving up a pair of walks.
While some may be surprised that a pitcher would be taken out six outs shy of throwing a no-hitter, Cardinals head coach Craig Everett said because the team has missed so many games due to inclement weather, it was more important to give the other arms on his staff some work.
“We’ve been rained out of our last seven games,” said Everett, who also is the head coach at Queensborough Community College. “I had no idea what to expect [from Rosenbluth] because he’s had a long layoff.”
What Everett got was a dominating performance from a pitcher who did the same to PSAL opponents as a junior at Cardozo. But, possibly from the rust, Rosenbluth amazingly said he didn’t have his best stuff against the Yankees.
“I didn’t have my ‘A’ game; I wasn’t throwing as hard as I usually do,” Rosenbluth said. “But I was able to hit my spots. It was all about location today.”
Location and defense.
While he did strike out half of the 16 batters he faced, Rosenbluth also had the benefit of a defense that Everett said “may be the best we’ve ever had here.” Though seldom tested, the infield was flawless.
Robert Boland, the first batter Coppola faced in the sixth inning, walked but the Cardinals’ defense stepped up and, after catching a pop out for the first out, shortstop Charlie Foster turned a gorgeous inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Bayside did not once advance a runner past first in the seven innings.
“Danny just gives us a chance to win,” Everett said. “But he doesn’t have to do it by himself. Everyone behind him makes the routine plays.”
Routine plays were something lacking for Bayside. Three errors in the Cardinals five-run first inning was just the beginning.
The Yankees (6-3, 1-2 Elite League) had another error in the fourth inning, when Long Island (11-4-1, 3-1 Elite League) tacked on three insurance runs to take a 9-0 lead, and a fifth miscue in the sixth inning.
“We didn’t make any plays, we had no big plays,” said Bayside head coach Joe Kessler. “We made a lot of physical and mental mistakes. [Starting pitcher Steven Schult] deserved better than that. A Bayside Yankees team should not play like that.”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
