New era, new results

The tension was building and the pressure mounting when Ian Millman strolled to the mound last Wednesday afternoon.
One day after Francis Lewis’s worst performance of the year, a 10-0 pasting at Forest Hills, the Patriots held a precarious 1-0 lead over that same Rangers ballclub that was hanging by a thread.
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Ethan Liederman saw a possible game-ending fly ball misplayed into a two-base hit, placing the tying run 180 feet away. Millman, the first-year manager, gathered his entire infield on the mound and addressed Liederman, his ace right-hander. Instead of advising him on pitch selection, he took a different approach.
“I asked him,” Millman said, smiling, “what he had for lunch.”
The ploy worked. Relaxed and confident, Liederman closed it out. The Patriots improved to 7-2 in Queens East A, one win shy of their grand total last season, as Millman’s first season at the helm continued without hitch.
Led by Millman, who pitched part of two seasons professionally and runs the summer-ball travel organization, the New York Nine, baseball is different at the Fresh Meadows school, his alma mater, this spring.
No Patriot sits during games, when they are at bat or in the field. They are in top physical shape, the result of intense off-season conditioning workouts. Fundamentals are closely followed. The five-person coaching staff including former Patriots star Jonathan Lewis along with Yi-Chiang Chang — like Millman a Queens College graduate — coaches who bring professional baseball experience to the table.
“They came in and basically told us things would be different this year,” said Liederman, a Division I prospect. “They let us know from the get go we would work hard and get at it.”
The players have taken to the program’s transformation after a transitional period. During pre-season workouts, some, as Millman said, hit the wall after one too many wind sprints. Others had to get used to the new regimented system. However, the Patriots have clearly adapted.
“They’re like sponges - their ears are open, mouths are shut,” Millman said.
Liederman and Jonathan Bobeo, a sophomore right-hander, lead the charge, but it is players like first baseman Phil Stamatis, a hard-nosed senior captain, and catcher Walter Lopez, that make Lewis go. The Patriots are not the most talented team in Queens, nor the most athletic, Millman said, but like his own playing career - he was an undersized side-arm pitcher who refused to let his dream die through sheer perseverance - they have compiled impressive results.
“We are as tough mentally as anybody and we play together well,” he said, “so at the end of the day, with wooden bats being a little bit of an equalizer, we’re going to fight you to the end,” he said.
As much as he likes to defer credit to his assistant coaches and players, Millman cannot avoid praise. When asked their impression, parents gave Millman a glowing report, from his handling of pitchers - Millman has slowly built up pitch counts instead of unnecessarily extending young fragile arms - to using his entire roster to scheduling city powers James Monroe and George Washington in pre-season scrimmages.
“These kids are focused and game ready,” said Moses Torres, who has two sons, David, a sophomore infielder, and Eduardo, a senior outfielder, on the team. “You can tell they like to play for him.”
Labeling Millman one of the better baseball minds in the area, Newtown Manager Neil Rosenblatt likewise praised his work.
“It’s a big difference when you have someone who really knows what he’s doing,” Rosenblatt said. “Ian has been around the elite level as a player, as a coach, and he just has that experience that is invaluable.”
The postseason is not uncommon ground for the Patriots. Under Randy James, they did qualify twice in the last three years, although they were blanked, 10-0, on each occasion. In those instances, Lewis faded late in the year, finishing six games off the division pace. This season, with wins in six of their last seven, they are hitting their stride at the right time.
“It’s a different world,” Liederman said. “It’s different baseball. Everybody is real excited.”