IN-Tech baseball team looks

to reverse trend with strong

start, Panthers win season

opener for first time in

program history

 

By Jason Eisenberg

 

April 1, 2011 -- Ever since the IN-Tech Academy baseball

team was promoted from developmental status to the

PSAL’s “B” Division back in 2008, to say the Panthers

have earned a reputation as slow starters would be an

understatement.

 

Not only has the local team never won on opening day, but in all three seasons up to this point, they have dropped at least their first three games on the schedule. As a result, the Panthers always tend to find themselves in a deep hole and are left with almost no margin for error while fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch. 

 

Two years ago, IN-Tech overcame a 4-6 start and qualified for the postseason by winning six games in a row. Last season, the Panthers won just two of their first 10 contests, but then won the next five straight and appeared to be on the way to repeating the feat, before ultimately losing their final game and falling just short of the playoffs.

 

Needless to say, the Panthers and first-year head coach John Spadaccini -- IN-Tech’s former athletic director who has now swapped roles with former baseball manager Alex Marrero -- are hoping that 2011 will bring an end to these early-season struggles.

 

Well, it might be only one game, but IN-Tech’s first-ever win in a season opener -- 11-1 over Grace Dodge on Tuesday afternoon -- was certainly a good way to start.

 

“Obviously for us, it was really important to open on a positive note right away, so even though it was not completely perfect, you will always take a win on the first day,” said Coach Spadaccini. “We have high expectations, so we absolutely want to be fighting for the division and seeding later in the season, not just trying to make the playoffs.”

 

The two teams played through a scoreless opening frame, but it was actually Grace Dodge that would take the first lead on a two strike, two-out RBI double to deep left field in the top of the second. However, this early deficit did not rattle IN-Tech’s junior starting pitcher Eric Valdez, who would strike out three batters in the inning and did not allow another run the rest of the day.

 

As it turned out, IN-Tech would not be trailing for long. Panthers’ sophomore catcher Austin Rivera led off the bottom of the second by beating out an infield hit and then scored to tie the game when an errant throw enabled the next batter -- junior third baseman Edwin Jimenez -- to also reach base on another infield grounder. The local team was not done yet and they would go ahead for good later in the frame when junior second baseman Brandon Garcia smacked an RBI single to shallow center field. 

 

The Panthers would bat around through their entire lineup in two of the next three innings and continued to gradually increase their lead with three runs in the third and four more in the fifth. Sophomore centerfielder Albert Lugo did most of the damage, first hitting a two-run double in the third and then knocking in another run with a triple to the gap in right-centerfield during the fifth. In addition, a quartet of juniors -- Garcia, shortstop Bryan Gutierrez, designated hitter Christopher Abreu and rightfielder Michael Vargas -- each came through with an RBI single.

 

Meanwhile, Valdez continued to throw one scoreless inning after another. Despite a few mistakes from the defense behind him, which put runners on the bases even though the ball rarely left the infield, the junior hurler overcame all adversity by racking up the strikeouts. He whiffed six more batters from the third inning to the sixth, and finished with a total of nine on the day. Valdez reached the PSAL’s new mandated pitch count threshold in the sixth frame and Lugo replaced him on the mound to record the final two outs.

 

Back on offense, Jimenez and Lugo opened the bottom of the sixth by drawing walks. Then, both players came around to cross home plate when Grace Dodge committed an error yet again, this time on an infield grounder by teammate Christopher Bernier. These two runs gave IN-Tech a commanding 11-1 lead, which put the mercy-rule in effect and ended the game one inning early.

 

“Eric [Valdez] did a great job getting ahead of batters in the count today and he did not let any of his teammates’ fielding errors bother him,” said Coach Spadaccini. “He is probably going to be the ace of the staff, but we think we have three other good starters behind him (Abreu, Bernier and Lugo) and we will need all of them to contribute in the rotation. It is the same case on offense, since most of these guys are back from last year, I know we have a well-balanced team all-around. We got a few breaks today, though, and definitely will need to be much better as the opponents get tougher.”      

 

 

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

IN-Tech Players of the Game:

ERIC VALDEZ - The junior pitcher had a solid opening day start, throwing five-plus innings and allowing just one run, five hits and four walks, while striking out nine opposing batters.

ALBERT LUGO - The sophomore centerfielder was unquestionably the MVP of the offense on this day. Lugo went 2-for-3 at the plate, with a walk, a double, a triple, three RBIs, three runs scored and a pair of stolen bases.

 

 

IN-Tech Report Card

 

Offense: B+

11 runs on 10 hits is certainly not a bad way to start the season, but more importantly, IN-Tech looks to have capable batters from one through nine in the order. Every single player in the Panthers’ lineup reached base in the game. The team definitely has power hitters, but on this day -- with the exception of Lugo -- it relied more on bloop singles as well as hustling to beat out bunts and infield hits.

 

Defense: B

It was a mostly strong showing in the field for the Panthers, but there were some of the mistakes you would expect from a team on opening day. The team had trouble handling infield grounders on a few occasions and dropped a pair of shallow pop-ups, but they converted just about everything else so not much to be overly concerned about.

 

Pitching: A-

Although just one game, Valdez demonstrated significant improvement from one year ago. The junior allowed only three hits to leave the infield and struck out nine batters in five-plus innings, which is the same amount he whiffed in 15 innings last season. However, it will be important for him to have another quality start when facing an opponent tougher than Grace Dodge.