2016 NHSI: Poly Prep Stands Tough For First Win Of The Season

CARY, N.C.—Before this year’s National High School Invitational, Poly Prep Country Day (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hadn’t played a game this season. Understandably, they were a little rusty. They opened with a loss to West Coast power Huntington Beach (Calif.), then fell the next day to Flanagan (Fla.) High.

In those two losses, Poly Prep scored a combined five runs. In just four innings on Friday, their bats erupted for eight runs in an eventual 10-7 win over Rocky Mountain (Colo.) for their first victory of the season.

“We needed it,” head coach Matt Roventini said. “We battled for the first two games, but fell short obviously. A few breaks fell our way today, which was important. The first two games, it wasn’t happening that often. They did a really nice job of taking advantage of some mistakes along the way.”

As would be expected, the Poly Prep offense was led by some of its most talented bats, though it had to wait due to a 13-minute delay to start the game. Umpires worked to fix the pitcher’s mound, which was damp after an evening of rain.

After the teams had see-sawed through the first few frames, Poly Prep shortstop Anthony Prato, who is committed to Connecticut, gave his team the lead in the fourth inning. On Rocky Mountain starter Trenton Medrano’s final pitch, Prato punched a single through the left side with the bases loaded to score two runs.

Tyler Wincig followed by greeting the reliever, righthander Sam Sanchez, with a two-run double into the left field corner to stretch Poly Prep’s advantage further.

Daniel Bakst, the team’s top prospect and a Stanford commit, followed with a walk, and cleanup man Nick Storz continued the onslaught with a triple into the right-center field alley to give his team its seventh and eighth runs. Storz, a junior, is committed to Louisiana State.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” Storz said of his team’s big rally. “We were down 2-0 in the first, but I knew that we were going to come back like in previous games. The best thing about this team is that we battle.”

Roventini doesn’t know what about his team makes them so prone to never giving up, but he definitely likes it.

“That’s just the way they are,” he said. “I’m not going to tell you it’s me, but that’s my personality. They’re like that on their own. They’re tough kids. I think they’re really tough. That’s one of the things that we need to be and we need to preach, is that we have to be mentally tough for these types of things because we’ve been down in every game so far to start and we can pack it and run away, but we didn’t come down here for that.”

Rocky Mountain made it interesting in the seventh. John Sorensen and Jadon Uhrich reached on a walk and an infield single to start the inning. Cleanup man Austin Alarid’s pop-up found grass, and the bases were loaded.

Right fielder Brady Morris’ drive to left field scored another, but Rocky Mountain’s runners were too tentative and a single turned into a fielder’s choice and the first out of the inning.

After Rocky Mountain added two more in the fifth, Poly Prep answered quickly when Prato singled home two more to push his team’s total to 10. Rocky Mountain escaped further damage when reliever Ryan Olson got Bakst and Storz to pop up on the infield.

For a first win, defeating Rocky Mountain isn’t a bad start. The Lobos have produced a pair of notable pros in recent years—Cardinals lefthander Marco Gonzales and Blue Jays minor leaguer Andy Burns—and has won five of the last nine state championships.

“Obviously it’s good challenge to come out here and play the best of the best,” Prato said. “We were looking forward to it and the competition is great. It’s a great opportunity for us to be here.”