Mater Academy Gets Big Win Over District Rival Belen

Both teams were coming off blowout wins from Thursday afternoon, but it was the Mater Academy Lions who were able to stay hot when they faced off against the Belen Jesuit Wolverines on Friday night.

The Lions jumped out in front early and held off the Wolverines’ late rally to secure a 6-2 win in front of a large crowd at Westland Gardens Park.

The game started with a couple of nice defensive plays from both teams. In the top half of the first inning, Belen’s shortstop Alex De Goti hit a fading fly ball down the left-field line that looked as if it would drop in, but it was Mater’s Danny Reyes coming over and making the diving catch to save what could have been a big hit.

Then in the bottom half of the first, Belen center fielder Joey Rodriguez threw out Lions lead-off hitter Frankie Gonzalez at home as he was trying to score from second base on Willie Abreu’s single up the middle.

Mater’s bats came alive as Albert Almora, Kevin Abraham and JC Escarra came up with big hits in the first inning to jump out to a quick 4-0 lead. Gonzalez reached base again in the second, but this time, he scored on Almora’s single. In the third inning, designated hitter Ernesto Hechevarria came through with a double, driving in Danny Reyes.

“We are using the new BBCOR bats this year,” Mater head coach Eddie Gorriz said. “So we are just making sure we go out there taking quality swings and hitting the ball hard.”

On the mound, Mater’s Mike Mediavilla was pitching a no-hitter through four innings and gave up his only hit to Belen’s Alex Lorenzo after a hard-fought battle between the two.

“Mediavilla did a great job tonight keeping them off balance,” coach Eddie Gorriz said. “We took him out because we have our guys on a pitch count, and the last batter did a good job with that single after an 11 pitch at-bat.”

Belen’s starting pitcher Alex Lavandero struggled on the mound as the Mater hitters were able to make good contact with his fastball early. However, his teammate Danny Parets came in and gave the Wolverines three and two-thirds shutout innings.

“He was excellent, came in and did exactly what he had to do,” Belen head coach Jerry Albert said. “He kept us in the game and gave us a shot to come back.”

The Wolverines were able to get some things going late, but it was a little too late. In the fifth, Alex Lorenzo singled to right-center and eventually scored on a wild pitch. In the sixth inning, Alex Lavandero and Mike Iglesia hit back-to-back singles and get in scoring position. Gilbert Delgado drove in Lavandero to decrease the lead to 6-2.

Mater brought in Willie Abreu to pitch the seventh inning to close out the game. He came in, got a quick fly ball from the first hitter and struck out the next two to end the game.

“Our hitting isn’t where it will be down the road,” Albert said. “Nobody is near where they will be later in the year. We will be fine.”

Gorriz agreed.

“It’s early in the season, and we are just taking it one win at a time,” Gorriz said. “We look forward to tomorrow and continuing to fix little things as we go.”

The Lions will next take on the Homestead Broncos on Tuesday.

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