See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Andrew Zapata had several reasons to bring the heat in Poly Prep’s match up against Fieldston on Friday, and he didn’t disappoint.
Fieldston’s Eagles beat the hard-throwing, UConn-bound righty in the teams’ first meeting, but this win gave the Blue Devils sole possession of first place in the Ivy League. The game might also be Zapata’s final high school start, if Poly doesn’t reach the private school state tournament final on May 22.
Even if his team doesn’t reach the title game as expected, Zapata left quite an image to remember him by on Friday, with a 5–0 win over host Fieldston. Zapata tossed a one hitter, struck out 11, and allowed just five base runners.
“It’s lights out,” said shortstop Anthony Prato, who had two hits. “All you can do is just watch.”
Zapata had the no-hit bid, filled mostly with softly hit balls, going into the sixth inning. It looked inevitable when Zapata caught a screeching line drive right back to off the bat of Jake Turtel for the second out and landed on his back on the mound. One batter later, Fieldston star catcher Kevin Fich delivered his team’s first hit with a booming ground rule double to left. Zapata shook it off.
“I said in the dugout that if I made that play and then the next kid hit it I was destined to not have no hitter,” he said. “I probably wasn’t supposed to make that play.”
The clutch hitting that Poly has lacked in several big games this season was there this time around against Fieldston ace Max Kassan, who struggled with his control. The Blue Devils (11–7, 9–2) took a 1–0 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Prato. Zapata made it 2–0 when he drove in Rob Calabrese with a single of his own in the fifth. Poly, which had seven hits, broke the game open with a three-run sixth thanks to a Fieldston error and a run-scoring single from Christian Pelligrino.
Blue Devils coach Matt Roventini felt any early lead with Zapata on the mound against Fieldston (9–3) was a needed boost for a team that has fallen behind too many times this season and seen numerous tight losses.
“I think we needed to have a lead and all of a sudden take a deep breath,” he said. “We have played from behind too much. Getting ahead gave us a little sense of confidence.”
The Poly squad hopes this will be a win they will build on going into the post season in search of a historic third-straight state title. The team feels fortunate to be in first place after an uncharacteristically rough season, and wants to leave its struggles behind with this win.
“In a big game, we played well, we played clean,” Zapata said. “It was kind of a clutch performance by everybody.”
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.