East baseball triumphs again; SOTA’s Kenny Cruz named RCAC player of the year

Posted by [email protected] | Sep 26, 2015 | Education, Sports | 0 |

• May 29, 2015

It was another good year for city baseball. Participation was up. Northeast/Northwest started its first ever varsity program. And, once again, East led the way, finishing first in the regular season at 11-1, and then defeating Monroe in the City Tournament Championship for its second straight title.

East Coach Kyle Crandall knew he had a young squad when the season opened. They began at 1-4, but Crandall was patient. As the Orientals gained experience, the team reeled off twelve consecutive league victories, culminating in a 17 – 7 victory over the Red Jackets. East lost their sectional game 4 -2 to Spencerport the following week.

East’s Ryan Rivera celebrates with Coach Crandall after triple in the City Tournament

Crandall describes how the group came together on many levels as the season progressed:

Our coaching staff knew that we were going to start some younger players. No one envisioned that we would start the season 1-4. However, the older players really started mentoring their younger teammates. Once they realized their potential and began playing together, the tide turned. Another important point in the season was when we took the team trip to Baltimore. Over the course of the weekend, the team really bonded and ended up treating each other more like family members. The bond between the players translated into a bond on the team and led to much greater success on the field.

As I have reported, the School of the Art’s Kenny Cruz had another standout season as a junior. Awarded the RCAC Player of the Year and 1^st team All Star, Cruz batted .438 with 4 doubles. 2 triples and 1 home run. Indicative of his intimidating presence at the plate, Kenny was walked 23 times, giving him a .645 on base percentage. In 14 innings of pitching, he struck out 25 batters. In the sectional game against Newark, he broke up a no-hitter and shutout with a two-run double in the sixth.

Most impressively, according to SOTA’s Athletic Director Dave Michelsen, Kenny has been approached by four major league teams: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. Kenny has the potential to be the most sought after local prospect since Cito Culver was drafted in the first round by the NY Yankees.

See The Kenny Cruz watch: highest ranked outfielder in NYS, 22nd in the nation and No off season for SOTA’s rising baseball star. Oh, Kenny also currently has the highest GPA in the entire RCSD.

At the beginning of the season, Crandall offered a preview. City baseball opens; East set to defend title

Summing up the year, Crandall says:

The league continues to make advances to improve. Monroe has established themselves as true contenders the last couple of years. Wilson struggled down the stretch but had a nice non-league victory over Wayne 2-0 early in the season. The biggest surprise was the growth of Franklin. This is a young team with a lot of promise. They beat Monroe and Wilson during the regular season and we barely squeaked by them 4-3 in our tournament semi-final game. Eddie Lee certainly deserved his award as Coach of the Year.

Tagged Cito Culver, East High school, Kenny Cruz, Kyle Crandall, Monroe High School, RCAC baseball, the School of the Arts

For more on East’s rich athletic tradition, see:

Displaying East’s glorious past

East’s Coach Brigandi proved the value of sports extends beyond the playing fields

East baseball takes the show on the road. Destination Pittsburgh

For more on Monroe’s new football program, see:

Football returning to Monroe after 30 year hiatus

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.