The Eagles took home their 6th straight Monroe Holiday Tournament championship on April 24, before besting Kennedy 8-3 on April 30, in a battle between first place teams.
“These are big wins going into the final six games,” coach Mike Turo said. “It builds confidence for a young ball club.”
The Knights were undefeated, battling Lehman for the top spot in the A West going into its game with Monroe, who was enjoying a lead atop the A East, despite one loss to Evander.
“We want to make sure everyone else suffers a loss,” said Turo. “It helps when it comes to the tournament seeding.”
Monroe, led by Juan Arroyo (2-for-2, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 2B) and Victor Figueroa (2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI’s), was able to score runs quickly over Kennedy ace William Burgos (5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 4 K’s), taking a 5-3 lead into the 6th before teeing off on Willy Castillo for 3 more runs.
“We jumped on him early and once they realized we could hit him, it built their confidence right away,” noted Turo. “They also made a couple of errors and we capitalized on them.”
Jeffrey Hostos (4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 K’s) and Nolan Herrera (3 IP, 2 H, 3 K’s) were dominant from the mound during the win.
The 8-3 victory prepares Monroe for a battle with the only other undefeated team in Lehman (10-0) on Friday, May 9.
“We have a lot of difficult games remaining,” Turo said. “It’s not going to be easy. We play two against Walton and Clinton. Both teams are in second place. It is still anyone’s game.”
But Monroe goes in with a lot of momentum, winning seven games en route to the Monroe Holiday Tournament title during what Turo calls the biggest tournament in its 39-year history.
“Everyone I spoke to said they enjoyed the tournament a lot better,” Turo stated, pointing to the wooden bats, as a possible reason. “There were not as many mercy games as before. Games were a lot closer and pitching really made a difference.”
Every Monroe pitcher put in a complete game performance and only allowed two runs throughout the tournament, including a 6-1 tournament final victory over Clinton.
“We were both coming in with a new look, but it still felt like every other time we’ve ever played them,” Turo said of his rivals. “They are a really good young ball club.”
Clinton played Monroe twice in the double elimination tournament, losing in an earlier round 12-0, before learning from their mistakes and playing the Eagles tight until the 6th inning of a 1-1 game. It was there that Monroe poked through 5 runs and turned to their pitching to hold on to the win.
The two teams meet again on Monday, May 12 and Wednesday, May 14 to close out the season just before the playoffs. Turo is hopeful that his team will do well over the next six games, and continue to perform in the championship.
“I think we have a shot,” he said. “We definitely have the pitching for it.”
