Bryant lefthander Adonis Lao is one of the hardest throwers in the city, and for five innings on Saturday he muscled fastballs past Long Island City batters in a relentless display of power.
The result were the same and so was Lao’s expression: a look of stoic determination crossed his face with every strikeout.
The senior had the same reaction while giving up a pair of big hits in the final two innings, when LIC twice put a man on third base with two outs. But in both instances, Lao got the next batter out, ending the game on a ground-out to preserve a 1-0 masterpiece in Queens ‘A’ West at Randall’s Island.
“It’s a big win,” said Lao, who struck out 12 and allowed four hits and no walks while throwing just 74 pitches in the complete game. “This is my last year and I just wanted to come out with a bang. First game, I had a rocky first start in the first inning. Today, I had a good day.”
In the bottom of the fourth, Bryant’s Christian Aubry broke out of a slump with a homer to deep left field off of LIC ace Charles Mendes for the game’s only run.
Lao had been victimized by Long Island City earlier this month in a 4-1 loss, but at the game’s conclusion on Saturday, Lao let his guard down and smiled broadly. The win allowed Bryant to move into a first-place tie with John Adams atop the division.
The LIU-bound Lao relied mostly on off-speed pitches against Long Island City on April 9 and wasn’t happy with the results, giving up all four runs in the first inning.
On Saturday, he relied primarily on a fastball that coach first-year coach Radames Peralta said can jump up to 87 mph.
LIC left runners on second and third in the first inning when Lao struck out the side. He did it again in the top of the sixth after Long Island City’s Cristian Guerrero reached third on a triple to center field.
Lao promptly struck out the next batter, Erison Valerio to get out of the jam. It was Valerio who drove in a pair of runs off Lao the first time they played.
“Butterflies,” Lao said of having a man on third in the sixth and seventh innings. “Having someone on third is something you never want to have because you know they’re about to score. But it’s alright. We got the job done.”
In the top of the seventh LIC’s Mikey Espinal golfed a fastball to right field for a ground-rule double. A batter later, Espinal was nabbed at home on a throw from second basemen Jordi Rodriguez that allowed Kewin Franco to advance to second.
Franco later stole third with two out. But Lao induced the next batter, Ramon Amancio, to ground out to shortstop Justin Valentin to end the game.
Perhaps the happiest person outside of Lao was Aubry, who was glad to break out of a slump that followed a hot start.
“The first half of the season I was hitting everything and then I just hit a rock in the road,” said Aubry. “I’m working every day and I feel like I should be out of it. I’m trying to do everything for this team to help us win.”
