LWA goes down fighting

Lawrence Woodmere Academy entered the PSAA baseball championship game at MCU Park in Brooklyn on May 20 a considerable underdog against unbeaten Bay Ridge Prep, which won the regular-season meeting between the teams by a couple of touchdowns.

But the Tigers were no easy prey this time. They carried a one-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Bay Ridge rallied with a sacrifice fly and a walk-off single with the bases loaded and one out to take the title, 5-4.

“It was a tough ending because we came so close,” LWA coach Mike Cohn said. “We knew we had a big fight on our hands considering Bay Ridge was undefeated and averaging 10 runs per game. Our kids played a tremendous game. It was by far the best we played all year.

“Bay Ridge came through in a pressure-packed situation in the last inning,” he added. “That’s the way the playoffs went this year. We came from behind in the last inning to win in the semifinals. Everything was close and dramatic.”

Junior Wesley Gladstein had a strong outing on the mound for the Tigers, who finished 7-3 overall. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to preserve a lead made possible by senior Mike Levitt’s RBI single, but two walks in the seventh led to trouble. The leadoff batter walked, stole second, took third on a balk, and scored on a sac fly to make it 4-4. Another walk and stolen base was followed by an infield single and an intentional walk to the clean-up batter to load the bases and set up a force at any base. But a deep fly over a drawn-in outfield landed for a game-winning hit.

“Wesley pitched a great game,” Cohn said. “We couldn’t have asked for much more from him. We didn’t trail until the final pitch.”

The Tigers, who lost 16-2 to Bay Ridge on April 24, built a 3-0 lead at the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones in the top of the third. Senior Matt Irizarry cracked a two-run single, and sophomore Jordyn Berry roped a run-scoring single. Bay Ridge pulled even in the bottom of the fourth.

“It was a great experience for the kids,” Cohn said. “They were in a little awe of the stadium. We gave them 10 minutes to soak it in and take some pictures before they started getting ready for the game.”

LWA advanced to the final with a 5-4 walk-off victory over Waldorf in the semifinals. The Tigers were down to their final out with sophomore Jake Ellowitz on third base and Levitt on second when sophomore Nathan Cupidore grounded a comebacker to the mound that led to a two-run game-winning error.