Martin Van Buren’s Edgar Lebron dives back into first base. (Denis Gostev)
Martin Van Buren had a season full of late-inning and walk-off wins – so why would the championship game be any different?
That was the feeling in the dugout until the final out was recorded on Saturday. It was, however, different, as No. 11 Van Buren fell, 2-1, in 10 innings to No. 13 John Bowne in the PSAL Class B baseball final — the school’s first appearance in the championship game since last winning it all in 1958.
When the sky opened, resulting in a 70-minute rain delay, the Vee Bees were down a run with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the sixth. At that point, a rally seemed inevitable.
“We have been coming back all year.” Van Buren coach Ed Shechtman said. “We usually win these games.”
His team didn’t score in the sixth, but drew even in the seventh when Elvis Reyes’ pop up landed between the left fielder and shortstop against Bowne (18-3) reliever Gabe Gonell.
But Van Buren (17-4) cost itself a chance to win the title right there as the base runners didn’t hear if the infield fly rule had been called. Eliecer Rodriguez was forced out at third and Edgar LeBron was tagged out going to second after leaving first during the confusion.
“We spoke about the infield fly rule in the dugout during the rain delay,” Shechtman said. “That play kind of hurt us.”
Starter Saul Vargas was sensational, as he had been all postseason. He allowed just three hits over six innings of work and gave up just an Anthony Delarosa RBI single in the top of the sixth. Van Buren, which left six men in scoring position, looked like it was going to finally get on the board in the bottom of the inning. Robert Staropoli and Sean Naidu waked around a Crispin ground out against Delarosa before the rain came.
“He was just throwing strikes and we couldn’t hit off of him,” Vargas said of Delarosa.
Van Buren didn’t want to use the rain delay as an excuse, but Reyes did say it certainly didn’t help the team’s momentum. When the game restarted Gonell came on in relief and struck out Philip McFarlane and got Luis Arimont to ground out to shortstop to end the threat. The Vee Bees had two hits and a walk in the seventh, but did not have another runner reach after that.
“We got close,” Reyes said. “When it comes down to a clutch situation, we tried to deliver like we always do.”
The rain and the loss couldn’t put a damper on Van Buren’s stellar season. It took the Queens B South title, advanced past the second round of the playoffs for the first time in Shechtman’s nine seasons and won three playoff games by a single run. It earned them a trip to MCU Park and even in defeat the experience was on won’t forget.
“I felt like I was on a major-league field,” LeBron said. “On a professional field, we played like pros.”