Bayside falls short

This season ended much the way last year did for Bayside - at the hands of a city juggernaut. Last May it was Tottenville, this one Clinton.
The two games were so similar. The Commodores hanging on for much of the way, as their ace right-hander Anthony Velazquez quieted a potent lineup. In each instance, though, they did not have enough in the tank, not enough pop at the plate, or did not play a tight enough game in the field.
“I’m proud,” said Velazquez after the seventh-seeded Commodores fell to No. 2 Clinton, 4-1, in the PSAL ‘A’ quarterfinals at Moe Finkelstein Field in Brooklyn, “but like I said last year, I thought we were the better team.”
They couldn’t muster much against the Governors’ hard-throwing right-hander Jose Aponte. He struck out 12, allowed just three hits and one unearned run. Bayside had their chance to jump out to a lead early after Velazquez walked, stole second and third in the first. But designated hitter David Brown waved at a slider and center fielder Jorge Ynoa was called out on the same offering. It was a sign of things to come. Aponte’s sharp breaking ball caused havoc for the Commodores’ right-handed hitters all afternoon.
“It [looked] good, then the last second it did what it was supposed to do, drop out of the zone,” Ynoa said.
Meanwhile, Bayside gift-wrapped Clinton’s four runs. Both batters Velazquez walked in the second - catcher Jonathan Canadelier and Jarib Jimenez - came around to score, first on Daniel Albino’s RBI groundout, and later catcher Manny Guerrero’s throwing error. They got two more in the sixth, when Ynoa never saw Candelier’s blast to left center, turning it into a two-run homer.
“Would they have scored any of those runs? I don’t know,” Bayside Manager Pat Torney said. “We could’ve been right there.”
As they were last May, Bayside can at least stake claim to the Queens crown. It may not earn them a city championship or any rings, but for the second year in a row, they were the borough’s lone representative in the quarterfinals, and this season, the only ‘A’ team to get out of the opening round.
“I’m damn proud of what they accomplished,” Torney said. “Bayside is on the map to stay.”
Unlike the end to last year, the feel was different. Velazquez laid down a challenge after dropping the game to Tottenville, requesting full effort to make a run at the championship. Now, they lose him, second starter Eric Strauss, and shortstop Fazal Khan. Outfielders Ynoa and Antonio Koulotouros and catcher Manny Guerrero will all be back, but the Queens A-East champions will be vastly different.
“We lose two big guns,” Ynoa said.
Namely Velazquez, who pushed the Commodores to new heights, whether it was throwing back-to-back perfect games as a junior or bailing them out in their second round playoff victory over Fort Hamilton this year, a game senior Sam Koenig won with a two-out, two-run single in the seventh.
“He has so much heart, so much desire; he wants so much to do well,” Torney said. “He can will people. He’s kind of in a way almost like Michael Jordan or Jason Kidd … where he just wills other players to play better.”
After it was over, after Torney had spoke with the team down the right field line, told them how proud of them he was, Ynoa remained in shallow right field, kneeling on the ground, the disappointment overwhelming him. One by one, Velazquez, Guerrero, Koulotouros, and Brown joined him, sharing in one more moment on a baseball diamond together.
“We’re family,” Velazquez said.