While the borough has three representatives - Holy Cross, Molloy, and St. Francis Prep - in the Catholic league’s eight-team double elimination tournament, Public School ‘A’ baseball has not enjoyed nearly the same amount of success.
For the second year in a row, only Bayside advanced into the quarterfinals. And unlike last spring, when three teams - Newtown and Bryant were the others - won an opening-round game, the Commodores were the only ‘A’ Queens squad to emerge victorious this postseason.
No. 16 Cardozo lost to No. 17 Brandeis, 13-6, as all five pitchers gave up at least two runs. The Queens West A division champions, John Adams, seeded 13th, were upset by 20th-seeded McKee/Staten Island Tech, 13-3. Sophomore Christian Cardenas walked five and allowed eight earned runs in just one inning, and the Spartans mustered just five hits. In his final game, senior first baseman Emmanuel Liriano drove in two runs. No. 23 Richmond Hill was nipped by No. 10 Fort Hamilton, 12-10, despite five runs batted in by catcher Osiris Mendez. In addition, No. 22 Bryant fell to No. 11 Curtis, 11-1, and No. 27 Francis Lewis was shutout by sixth-seeded George Washington, 10-0.
In PSAL ‘B’ action, John Bowne, Martin Van Buren, Hillcrest, Queens Vocational Tech, and Queens HS of Teaching were winners.
