Kevin Del Valle said he nearly took a wrong turn as he got to Lafayette Avenue in The Bronx Tuesday afternoon. It’s hard to blame the Salesian coach, who won a CHSAA Class B title last year at Monsignor Scanlan, just across the road from Ravens Field.
His team, though, left its intensity back in New Rochelle in a 6-1 loss to St. Raymond.
What was especially disappointing was that the Eagles played well in a 2-1 win against Mount St. Michael on Monday.
“They’re giving a good effort and then they’re just complacent the next day, almost as if we let everything out yesterday, what are we going to do today?” Del Valle said. “We just weren’t focused today. Yesterday we played real well and I don’t think it carried over today. These kids are better than that.”
Salesian managed to get four hits against St. Raymond starter Freddy Gonzalez, who struggled in the first two innings. But the Eagles stranded all four runners and it proved costly. Gonzalez, a senior right-hander began to get his curveball over for strikes and worked ahead of almost every Salesian hitter.
Gonzalez retired the final 13 batters he faced, striking out nine with no walks in six shutout innings.
“He was spotting his pitches inside and out,” Del Valle said. “I’m surprised he didn’t break bats. We should have been aggressive right from that first pitch. We should have seized the opportunity in the last inning. We could have made some noise with no outs.”
Indeed, Ravens coach Marc DeLuca wanted to get reliever Matthew Torres some work and the move nearly backfired. Nick Mongelli led off the seventh with a single to left, the Eagles first hit since the second inning. Frank DiZenzo served up what appeared to be a routine double play ball, but shortstop Roger Ramos bobbled the ball.
And when John Napolitano walked, Salesian (2-5) had the bases loaded with no outs. Suddenly, St. Ray’s six-run lead seemed to be in doubt.
Mike Hostomsky grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring a run and pinch-hitter Mario Miranda flew out to right. Pinch-runner Armend Gjonbalaj tagged up, but was nailed at the plate by St. Raymond’s rightfielder Julian Monserrate to end the game.
Still, Del Valle is encouraged that his team can have a strong second half to the season and that starts with games against Cardinal Hayes, St. Peter’s and Regis this week.
“I really think our division is wide open and if we can compete against these Bronx/Manhattan teams and compete well and not make mistakes, I think it will carry over to our division,” he said. “There’s a lot of tradition with Iona and Stepinac, but I think we’re better than those programs and I think we’re definitely going to make noise this year against those guys. I don’t think we’re intimidated by them and I think we’ll definitely be up there.”