Xaverian student stars in Mayor’s Cup

The Mayor’s Cup all-star game took place on June 17 as the bestof the crop from the Catholic High Schools Athletic Association mettheir counterparts from the Public Schools Athletic League at theMCU field, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones – a minor league affiliateof the New York Mets.

One of the student athletes hails from Xaverian High School ofBay Ridge; on the previous week, the Clippers became the CHSAAIntersectional Class ‘AA’ champion.

Xaverian star outfielder Victor Bautista not only went two forthree at the plate, scored two runs and stole a base, but also wasnamed Most Valuable Player of the all-star game. Bautista is nowheaded for Clarendon Junior College in Texas, where he expects topick up his grades, advance to complete his education bytransferring to a four year college and then get drafted into themajor leagues.

I was waiting for my pitch, sitting back, laying off the curveball, and swinging at my pitch, Bautista said about his offensiveperformance after the 9-3 victory in the all-star contest. I washaving fun out there. It’s the last time we played each other. Ienjoyed it.

Victor had a terrific year and is a terrific outfielder, saidXaverian Head Coach Lou Piccola. He has a lot of upside. His(baseball) years are ahead of him. He developed better defensiveskills and has been a little more consistent with the bat.

Bautista batted .360 for Xaverian this past season. That sticksout more so with him than playing in an all-star game. He said thathis best game was winning the championship over All Hallows at St.John’s University.

I like the environment here (at MCU Field), Bautista went on.A day before the game I thought about it. The game for braggingrights and representing the Catholic High School is something thatI could talk about.

It’s important to the league just to win, Piccola went on.It’s more about the league than it is to the team. We representedthe Catholic high schools quite well. Everyone got into the gameand did a very god job. We got terrific pitching, timely hittingand won the game. Coaching (such) a game is relaxing, exciting, andvery rewarding, We played in a nice venue and in a beautifulatmosphere.

During the off season, Bautista will continue to play for theYouth Service League, an ‘outside’ circuit well known in NewYork.

Besides Bautista, other student athletes from local schools whocompeted in the all-star game, were infielder Jason Galeano of theHigh School of Telecommunications, infielder Luis Rios of FDR HighSchool, Telecommunications outfielder Michael Tejada, pitcherRobert Zaffarese of New Utrecht High School, who in one game thisyear threw a two hitter for a victory, and Franciel Campusano, apitcher at Fort Hamilton High School. Xaverian also was representedby infielder Antonio Nunez, pitcher Steve Pastrana, infielderDomingo Sosa, and catcher Elvin Soto.

Now these seniors will be attending a good college and getting agreat education. The seniors, of course, will all be missing theirhigh school days.

We worked hard (in the gym and (outside), Bautista summed up.It culminated with taking a championship. The city championshipmeans more to us. And I have a ring on my finger.

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