Grand Street looked like it was out of the game against Telecommunications before it rallied for an important win.
The Wolves, which trailed by four runs in the first inning, fought back and pulled off a come-from-behind 14–10 victory over visiting Telecom in Public School Athletic League AAA Southeastern baseball on April 11. Grand Street (11–3) moves a game behind first place James Madison with two contests remaining.
“They showed a lot in not moping around,” said Grand Street coach Melvin Martinez. “We have been struggling in the first inning in the last five games, but then they came back and came back again. It shows my kids have a lot of fight in them and they are going to play hard for seven innings.”
The Wolves broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded, right fielder Andrew Narvaez drilled a three-run homer to center field to tie the score at 9–9. Later in the inning, the designated hitter Julian Fernandez had an RBI single to make it 10–9.
Grand Street wasn’t done. It added four runs in the top of the fifth, first off an RBI single from Marcus Chavez. The highlight of the frame was a two-run home run from catcher Angel De La Cruz that put his team up 14–9. The rally showed just how much fight the Wolves have.
“It shows the type of team that we are,” said Chavez, who went three-for-three with two runs batted in. “We fight hard. We lose and we come back stronger, and that is going to show when we get to the playoffs.”
Grand Street wasn’t up the whole game. Telecom scored four runs in the top half of the first inning off of Wolves’ starting pitcher Andrew Hernandez, who lasted 0.2 innings. The Wolves came back with a five-run second, led by a two-run double by Isiah Torres and a RBI single by Chavez to go up 6–4.
Telecom (10–4) then used a five-run top of the fourth, which was started by a three-run triple from first baseman Austin Ruiz, to take a 9–6 lead. The Yellow Jackets’ pitching and defense couldn’t hold the lead from the strong offensive effort.
“My pitchers just didn’t have it,” said Telecom coach Ed D’Alessio of his team, which gave up 12 hits and committed three errors. “I couldn’t come in with anybody because I have three games this week. We played bad on defense too.”
Grand Street came out on top in the back-and-forth game between two of the top teams in Brooklyn. Martinez is hoping the win helps his team moving forward for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.
“This was huge,” Martinez said. “I hope our momentum continues against Tottenville and Madison.”
