By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Yandiel Lopez posted a record of 2 wins and 2 losses in 2025. Then a sophomore, the right-hander struck out 30 batters over 24 innings of work and finished with an ERA of 4.89.
A promising 2026 campaign was within reach as he would be expected to play a more prominent role in the East High rotation.
A sprained UCL to his throwing arm put those plans on hold until Friday afternoon.
And Lopez didn’t disappoint in his return.
He hurled three shutout innings of a mercy-rule shortened affair as East defeated School of the Arts (SOTA/3-4), 12-2 in the 2026 City Cup.
“It certainly is nice to have Yandi back and have another option,” East High head coach Kyle Crandall said after the Eagles won their sixth straight game. “He was one of our top pitchers last year, and here we are in our 10th game, and this is his first time on the mound. We’ve been able to have the success that we’ve had without him on the mound so far just shows how much we have grown.”
Lopez struck out four and walked four. A leadoff single he allowed in the second was erased on the basepaths.
“I was ready to go,” he said. “Whenever the team needs me, I’m always ready to go. And I’m always ready to show all my talents for everybody else and, you know, put my team on top.”
Mixing his fastball with a changeup, Lopez faced three batters over the minimum.
“I was trying to stay in the zone,” he said. “I’ll put my stuff up against anybody.”
East pounded out 17 hits to score in double figures for the sixth time this season.
“I felt like we had really good at bats and were swinging at strikes,” Crandall said. “But we’ve had pretty disciplined at bats all season. Sometimes it’s just a matter of the ball finding the open spots on the field, and today that happened.”
Justus Robinson led the game with a double. Mitchell Nieves and Kyle Markham followed back-to-back singles to load the bases. Eric Jones cleared the bases with a double, and the Eagles had a lead they did not surrender.
Friday’s win capped a week that saw the Eagles beat Aquinas (12-2) on Tuesday and Palmyra-Macedon (7-4). In the latter game, the Eagles trailed 4-1 heading into the seventh before rattling off six runs to pull out a win on the road.
Crandall’s crew didn’t allow any chance of a letdown after that dramatic win.
“On Wednesday, we put the ball in play pretty much every at bat, but we were hitting the ball at guys. They made some nice plays.
“But these kids are so resilient. They found a way to get it done still in the seventh. We spent a lot of time yesterday on just a lot of hitting stuff in practice. It definitely translated to the game today.”
Markham plated Robinson with a triple in the second and then scored on a Jones single.
In the third, Luis Sanchez singled and scored on a Carlos Gaston two-out hit.
Lopez brought home Nieves and Jones with a double in the fourth to give East an 8-0 lead.
‘It’s always been the same thing for us,” Lopez said. “We’re really loud in the dugout. We like the energy. Energy motivates us to do our best, and we just pile on hits, hits, hits.”
Jones finished 4-for-4 with three doubles, five RBI and two runs scored. Markham was 3-4 with a triple three runs scored and three RBI. Robinson crossed home three times as part of a 2-4 effort. Nieves accounted for two runs and two hits. Lopez had two hits and three RBI. Carlos Gaston was 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
James Laver singled and eventually scored on an error to get SOTA on the board. Bennie Laver tripled and came home on a Bruce Newton RBI groundout for the Silverhawks second run.
Leave a Reply