By Dylan Butler
There were no big surprises when the PSAL baseball seeding committee met Thursday at PSAL headquarters in Long Island City.
Tottenville was the obvious choice as top seed, and Staten Island and the Bronx dominated, garnering eight of the top 11 selections for the 32-team ‘A’ playoffs, which were scheduled to start Wednesday.
But the most intriguing thing for Queens PSAL teams is a pair of all-borough first-round games that will lead to at least one guarantee: A Queens team will be in the quarterfinals.
John Adams is the highest-seeded team from Queens, garnering the No. 4 seed, and will host No. 29 Richmond Hill in a first-round game scheduled for Wednesday.
No. 13 Cardozo, which captured the Queens East ‘A’ title, is home for 20th-seeded Grover Cleveland, also scheduled for Wednesday.
The winners of the two games meet Friday in a second-round game at the highest seed, which would be John Adams if the favorites win, and the winner of that game plays in the quarterfinals Monday.
Also making the playoffs is No. 26 Francis Lewis, which plays at seventh-seeded Telecommunications, and Long Island City is seeded 31st and has the unenviable task of facing No. 2 Monroe in the first round.
The best-of-three semifinals are scheduled for June 6, 7 and 8, while the title game will be June 13 at Shea Stadium at 7 p.m.
Forest Hills is the highest-seeded team from Queens in the PSAL ‘B’ playoffs. The seventh-seeded Rangers host No. 26 Environmental Studies in a first-round game.
Flushing is seeded 11th and is home for No. 22 Erasmus, No. 13 Bryant hosts 20th-seeded South Shore, No. 16 Beach Channel is home for 17th-seeded EBC/Bushwick and No. 18 August Martin is at 15th-seeded Global Studies.
No. 19 Franklin K. Lane plays at 14th-seeded Washington Irving, No. 21 RFK is at No. 12 Benjamin Banneker, 24th-seeded Queens Vocational takes on No. 9 Gompers and 27th-seeded Townsend Harris plays at No. 6 Graphic Arts.
All first-round ‘B’ games will be played Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Second-round games are scheduled for Tuesday, the quarterfinals will be Thursday and the semifinals are June 9.
Cardozo 13, Bayside 3. Dennis Medic went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Mike Errigo fanned five in a mercy-rule shortened five innings for Cardozo (20-7, 14-2 Queens East A), which knocked the Commodores out of playoff contention.
Long Island City 10, Newtown 7. Alveris Rodriguez went the distance, striking out 13, and David Mercado's two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning gave LIC (7-9 Queens West A) the lead for good.
Robert F. Kennedy 5, Townsend Harris 4. Johnny Acosa went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, Kevin Martinez drove in two runs and Joseph Floria hit the game-winning triple in the bottom of the seventh inning for RFK (13-9, 11-5 Queens Central B).
Robert F. Wagner 14, Renaissance 4. Cesar Lerebours had a double, a triple and three RBIs, and Juan Montero went 1-for-2 with two RBIs for Wagner (3-13 Queens North B).
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
