Nick Storz backed himself into a dangerous corner before striking out arguably the city’s best hitter to give Poly Prep a signature win.
The Blue Devils ace walked the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the seventh inning with his team holding a three-run lead. It brought George Washington star Wesley Rodriguez to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.
Storz’s first pitch sailed well high, but he regained his composure to come back and strikeout Rodriguez — who is projected as an early round pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft — for the third time in the game, this time with a fastball on the outside corner.
Storz’s 13th strikeout on the day sealed Poly’s 5–2 victory over George Washington last Saturday afternoon in Bay Ridge.
“I just needed to get him out,” Storz said. “Hit my spots and try to fool him as best I can.”
Rodriguez went zero-for-four against him. Storz allowed just three hits and walked five. George Washington (20–4) scored only two fourth-inning runs, including a homer by shortstop Jose De La Cruz.
Storz was throwing in the high 80’s consistently and had his slider and change-up working most of the game. His teammates have complete confidence in him when he is on the mound. It brought back memories of the Blue Devils former ace.
“It kind of reminded me of the freshman year of Andrew Zapata,” said Poly shortstop Anthony Prato. “Anytime we need a win, just go to Nick. He’s a shutdown guy.”
Prato provided Storz with his biggest help defensively, saving a run with Poly ahead 4–2 in the fifth. He stayed in front of a hard ground ball off the bat of Rodriguez. Prato gathered himself quickly and got Rodriguez out at first to end the inning and keep the runner at third from scoring.
“That thing was smoked at me,” Prato said. “It hit my glove, it bounced up. I don’t even know if I caught it with my hand or not. I just flung it out him.”
While Poly (13–2) made the defensive play, it got its runs by taking advantage of George Washington miscues. Travis Zurita delivered a three-run, inside-the-park home run when his hard-hit ball got under the glove of a charging left fielder in the second inning.
The Blue Devils, who has just four hits, added another run to make it 4–0 when Prato doubled and then came home when then the ball was again misplayed in left. Poly’s final run came on a bases-loaded walk to Storz in the fifth to make it 5–2. The Blue Devils have won five straight since losing to Dalton, including beating St. Joseph by the Sea on Sunday.
“In a game with two good teams, that one mistake makes the different a lot of times,” said Poly Prep coach Matt Roventini.
The game lived up to all the hype despite Rodriguez not opposing Storz on the mound. Roventini said he likes playing the best, but didn’t miss his lineup having to face Rodriguez’s 97-mile-per-hour fastball. Storz overpowered him twice before freezing him on the game’s final pitch.
“As much as I didn’t want that match-up by the end for the game, if you want to write the story, it was a heck of story getting that match-up at the end of the game,” Roventini said. “I tip my hat to Nick.”
