By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Eric Maldonado finished 3-for-4 with a double, triple and four RBI while hurling two scoreless as the East High Eagles advanced to the championship of their tournament with an 8-3 victory over Lyons, Tuesday afternoon.
Maldonado’s two-out bases clearing triple in the second broke open a 1-1 game, and the Eagles didn’t look back from there.
“It was a fastball down the middle,” the senior pitcher/catcher said. “I just took a hack at it.”
Sam Sheldon, Victor Rivera and Jordi Agosto scored on Maldonado’s drive into the right center gap.
“It was a routine at bat,” Maldonado said. “Just get in there, make sure I’m calm and rip.”
Maldonado eventually crossed the plate on a wild pitch, and East improved to 6-0 on the season.
Maldonado got East on the board in the first inning when his line drive single to left field was misplayed, and John Segarra scored from first.
“I know I got to come out here ready to play every time,” he said. “It was pretty good today. It was a good win by the team today, for sure.”
Eric Maldonado doubles but is stranded at 3rd. Going to the fifth: @GoEastEagles 6 Lyons 3. pic.twitter.com/VoJAuk7DI0
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 18, 2017
Joel Alicea struck out eight over five innings for the win. The junior right-hander who tossed a pair of no-hitters earlier this season, escaped a base-loaded jam in the fifth with a punch out.
Maldonado struck out the side in the seventh and finished with four punch outs in two innings of work.
Agosto connected on a two-run inside-the-park home run in the fifth. He finished 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and three RBI.
Pablo Garcia reached base three times and was credited with an outfield assist when he gunned down Jeff Young at the plate in the sixth inning.
“I know we’ve played nothing but our league games right now,” Maldonado said. “We wanted to see if we could come out here and do our thing. We did pretty good.”
Brenden Bentel led Lyons going 4-for-4 at the plate. Donnie Kemp had a two-run single in the third to pull Lyons within two at 5-3.
East will play Waterloo in Wednesday’s championship game. A 2 pm first pitch is scheduled. Lyons will play Greece Olympia in the consolation match. An 11 am start is slated.
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