With the temperature well over 100 degrees on the turf baseball field at Francis Lewis, the Patriots battled Long Island City in the blazing heat behind the heat of their own flame-throwing pitcher Jeremy Rodriguez.
“The heat was affecting everybody,” Francis Lewis coach Ian Millman said. “It was like playing a summer league game in May.”
After an overpowering performance early on, Rodriguez was pulled at the beginning of the fifth inning and positioned at first base for three outs. He would return in the sixth to secure a 6-5 victory for No. 15 Lewis over 18th-seeded Long Island City in the PSAL Class A first round Wednesday. The Patriots will meet No. 2 George Washington in the second round Tuesday.
“Coach made the right decision to take me out and give me a break,” Rodriguez said. “If it was up to me, I would have stayed in the game, but Coach made the right decision.”
Rodriguez was touched up in the third inning, where he gave up two runs, including an RBI single to opposing pitcher David Velazquez. Despite Long Island City getting on the scoreboard, the Pats still held a 3-2 lead over the Bulldogs off the strength of a three-run first inning that was aided by three two-out walks by Velazquez.
Rodriguez pitched the fourth inning with no trouble before the sweltering heat caused the game to take an odd turn.
In the top of the fifth, it was lefty Chris Conroy who took the mound for Francis Lewis instead of Rodriguez. Rodriguez was exhausted after what his coach estimated was 75 to 80 pitches. It was clear that he needed a break. Rodriguez’s replacement was not a surprise, but Conroy’s entry was a definite vote of confidence from Millman. The expected move may have been to bring in Jonathan Bobea, another highly regarded pitcher who is on the same level as Rodriguez, but it was Conroy who got the call instead.
Most likely, Millman was attempting to avoid bringing in Bobea (three walks and three stolen bases) to keep him available for a possible matchup with PSAL power George Washington in the next round. Millman insisted that he would have used Bobea if he thought it was necessary, and he did warm up at one point during the game.
“You have to get there first,” Millman said when questioned about whether or not he was trying to save Bobea for the potential matchup with GW. “If we had to use him, we would have.”
Stepping into a heated matchup, both literally and figuratively, Conroy understandably had a rough inning. Scott Recinos tripled in a run and later scored on a sac fly from Velazquez to give Long Island City a 4-3 lead.
With Velazquez pitching a gem since his rocky first inning, the Patriots seemed to be succumbing to the heat and the pressure of the postseason as they went down in order in their half of the fifth.
All was not lost, however, as Rodriguez was still eligible to re-enter the game as the pitcher since he was never substituted from the playing field. Millman didn’t take much credit for the crafty coaching move after the game.
“All those [coaching’ books I read on the toilet finally paid off today,” he joked. “I’m going to learn how to coach this game myself one of these days.”
“First base was in the shade, so I just wanted to give him an extra eight- to 10-minute break before he went back to pitching,” he added. “I was bringing him back to pitch no matter how Conroy did.”
Rodriguez, who will play for Odessa (Texas) Junior College next year if he isn’t drafted, re-entered the game rejuvenated and struck out five of the final six batters he faced to finish with 13 punch outs and no walks.
“Once we were down, I knew I had to be perfect,” said Rodriguez about his dominant performance to close out the game.
As it turned out, Long Island City may have been able to use Millman’s “better now than later” philosophy.
After a passed ball with two outs allowed strikeout victim Douglas Chu to reach first base and extend the inning, Velazquez looked as if he simply ran out of gas. Three walks and a walked-in-run later, Long Island City coach Tom Lehman made his move, calling Recinos to the mound. The decision backfired in the final inning.
In the midst of several defensive timeouts by Long Island City, Millman constantly reiterated the same message to his team.
“I told each of them to stay calm,” he said. “This is what we’ve been training for all year. We’re prepared for this moment.”
The Patriots proved Millman right in the final inning.
David Torres started the final frame with a walk, and would later score the winning run when Javier Crisandry recorded his third RBI of the game, getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to end the game.
The only thing more important than the Patriots escaping with a win was the fact that they avoided using their second golden arm, Bobea. The right-hander will now start in the team’s showdown with George Washington on Friday.
And Millman believes his team is more than capable of pulling off the upset.
“As long as our guys are calm and confident,” he said, “we’re going to do a lot better than people expect.”