Boys' Baseball Extends Winning Streak To Seven Games

With a series sweep of the Westchester Comets and a dominant victory over the Venice Gondoliers, the Boys' Baseball team has quickly ascended the ladder in the Western League taking sole possession of second place in the process.
After beating up on the lower level league opponents to ignite their winning streak, the Cats pounded the Comets in a two game set. On Apr. 17, led by senior Jose Medina's 6 RBI day, the Cats scored sixteen runs en route to a 16-6 victory. A seven-run explosion by the Cats in the third inning quickly put the game out of the Comets' reach. In the second game of the series, on Apr. 20, the Comets put up a fight answering every scoring rally put up by the Cats. After a three run top half of the fifth inning put the Cats on top 5-2, the Comets answered with two in the bottom half of the inning and another run in the sixth inning to send the game into extra-innings. Junior Chris Navarro, who had four strikeouts in four previous plate appearances, won the game for the Cats with a sacrifice fly to left-field in the top of the ninth inning in his fifth at-bat.
A dominant 8-2 victory over the Gondoliers on Monday moved the Cats into second place in teh Western League. The Cats dominated from the outset as their first five batters reached base. Senior Stephon Brown knocked in Navarro for the early 1-0 advantage but the Gondos were able to escape a bases loaded situation after a double play groundout by sophomore Nolan Flashman. After not taking advantage of their first inning oppotunity, the Cats blew the game open in the second inning with a five run rally. Navarro drove in two runs with the bases loaded and one out. After a groundout by Medina, Brown drove in two more runs with a ground rule double into the ivy on Uni's Lower Field right-field wall. A flare single into right field by senior Michael Chun drove in Brown to extend the lead to 6-0.
"We've gotten better and worked hard on all areas of our game, especially hitting," said Brown.
Poor fielding, however, allowed the Gondos to maintain hope of a victory. Senior shortstop Justin Moore, who is the Cats' most touted star, had two errors and a critical mistake in the fourth allowed the Gondos to score two runs in that inning. Medina was able to get out of every jam he was in and a two run sixth inning put the game out of reach. "Every play hasn't been perfect but we seem to make up for it," said Brown. "Errors are going to happen, we just need to move on with it."
The Cats continue their final stretch of single game match-ups against league opponents tomorrow at home against the Fairfax Lions. The Cats will hope to avenge their 12-2 loss in their last meeting against the Lions. "After we started league 1-5 we thought to ourselve, 'This is not us, this is not the team we really are, and that we would not make playoffs playing like we were," said Brown. "After that we've just taken off and started winning."

STANDOUT PLAYER (vs. Westchester W 16-6, 4/17/09)
Although senior center-fielder Stephon Brown hit a three run homerun, his first of the season, senior pitcher/second baseman Jose Medina was the standout after going 3-5 with 6 RBI's with 1 stolen base.

STANDOUT PLAYER (@ Westchester W 6-5, 4/20/09)
Senior Justin Moore went 1-3 but walked twice, stole two bases and hit a triple in the bottom of the ninth inning which put him in position to score the game winning run on the sac. fly by Navarro.

STANDOUT PLAYER (vs. Venice W 8-2, 4/27/09)
Medina pitched a great game going seven innings, allowing two runs (one unearned), on six hits with six strikeouts, but Brown had a strong day at the plate, going 2-4 with a double, 3 RBI's and a run scored.

Four Game Winning Streak Keeps Baseball Playoff Hopes Alive

ONE HUNDRED PERCENT COMMITTMENT: Freshman Richard Caldaza (Top) gets caught in a rundown against LACES on Apr. 2. Junior Alex Fernandez (Bottom) continued the Cats' success against the Unicorns pitcher en route to a 9-1 win.

After a disappointing and inconsistent start to the season and league play, the Boys' Baseball team is rising with a four game winning streak as their season enters the final stretch.
The Cats are showing they have the skills to fulfill some of the high expectations from earlier in the season. With four All-League candidates in seniors Justin Moore, Jose Medina, Michael Chun and Stephon Brown, the Cats expected to challenge the rival Palisades Dolphins for the Western League title.
They showed their ability to compete with highly ranked opponents in their Mar. 5 home meeting against the perennial City powerhouse Roosevelt Roughriders. The Cats took the Roughriders the distance losing 1-0. Medina pitched a gem going seven innings, striking out seven and allowing only one unearned run. Although there have been bright spots such as Medina's performance against the Roughriders and the play of All-City candidate Justin Moore ( .528 BA/3 HR/8 RBI/15 R) the Cats have not been able to sustain success until this current four game streak.
Three losing streaks of three games or more, including a five game losing streak during the non-league schedule, and a 1-4 record in games decided by one run highlight the Cats inconsistency. The Cats' losing streaks have been fueled by a slumping offense. Throughout the Cats' five game losing streak from Mar. 3 to Mar. 11, the Cats were outscored 35-6 during that span.
League play has not been any easier for the Cats suffering sweeps at the hands of the Dolphins and the Venice Gondoliers, but their current four game winning streak has kept the Cats in the playoff hunt. Despite a 7-12 overall record, the Cats are 5-5 in league play which puts them in fourth place and trail second place by a half game.
Only one home and home series remains on the schedule for the Cats which begins on Apr. 17 at home against Westchester before the season ends with one game sets against every league opponent. If the Cats can continue their recent run, in which they have outscored the LACES Unicorns and Hamilton Yankees 17-5 over the last three games, and snatch second place from the hands of the Gondoliers and Fairfax Lions (who are tied for second at 4-3) then all of their early season struggles will be forgiven.