Malverne opens with no-hitter

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Malverne’s two-win baseball season in 2015 was a bit of a disappoint, but the Mules played a slew of tight games and saw one of their victories come against Nassau Class B champion Oyster Bay leaving Malverne with plenty of optimism coming into the 2016 campaign.

The Mules couldn’t have had a better start to the season. Sophomore pitcher Alex Berry went the distance and pitched a no-hitter in a 7-0 road victory over Elmont in the opener for both teams. Berry, who was perfect over the first four innings, struck out 13 batters and walked three. The Spartans didn’t hit a ball out of the infield.

Joe Dunn, in his second season as coach at Malverne, was impressed with Berry’s outing. “Alex was getting ahead of hitters, and was keeping his pitch count down” Dunn said. “He did a great job locating his fastball, and mixed in some off-speed pitches. He was in complete control the whole game. We were close to taking him out prior to the seventh inning, but he said he felt great. He wanted the ball. It was a great performance.”

Malverne got a superlative effort from junior starter Alex Rodriguez the next time it took the field. Rodriguez fanned 16 batters in a 7-1 win when Westbury came to town. He also had a good day at the plate, going 2-for-3 as the Mules matched last season’s win total.

Rodriguez had another solid effort his second time out when the team traveled to Lawrence. He held the Golden Tornadoes at bay, but Malverne’s bats were quiet in a 2-1 loss. Lawrence sophomore Carlos Duran struck out eight batters to earn his first varsity win.

The loss to Lawrence followed an 8-2 defeat at the hands of a much-improved West Hempstead team. Senior shortstop Ryan Sandberg had three hits and four RBI, and Ray Close went 3-for-4 to lead the Rams. Junior Matt Arasmo went the distance to earn the win.

Dunn was surprised by his team’s lack of offense in the back-to-back losses. “We were having real good at bats, and hitting the ball very well in scrimmages, against pretty strong pitching, so it’s tough to figure,” Dunn said. “We’ve been hitting a lot of first pitches for ground outs. We just need to get the bats going.”

Malverne got back in the win column with a 10-7 non-league road win against Hempstead. Rodgriguez, who is hitting close to .500, went 2-for-2 and was walked intentionally three times. Freshman Timmy Bosques had two hits and scored three runs, and senior Cody Michaels went 2-for-2. Senior Anthony Santoro was credited with the win. 

Dunn, who lauded the play of center fielder Mike Mendez, is optimistic. “We did a lot of positive things over the first couple weeks of the season,” Dunn said. “Our hitting will improve. We should be very competitive in our league.”

The Mules host East Rockaway next Monday at 4:30 p.m.