by Ken Walker
East Side High Ball Team Enjoys the Game
June 1, 2007
??Star Ledger??: “East Side Story”:http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1180153835212070.xml&coll=1&thispage=1. The Ledger’s piece gives a snapshot of Newark’s boisterous and hard-working East Side High baseball team.
It begins with Gilberto and Ivan, camped on rolled-up wrestling mats, spinning beats in their heads inside a dusty old room on the fourth floor.
The sounds suddenly roar to life, a rhythmic blend of hip-hop, reggae and salsa, a creation to break up the monotonous ping of aluminum smacking a baseball.
OOOOOO — YEEEEE CHICO!!!
The others join in, bats in hand, voices rising, for an impromptu jam session during batting practice. Somebody uses the padded wall as a conga drum.
Jerry Battaglini laughs, shaking his head at these amateur deejays, soaking in the soundtrack of his Newark East Side High team. He’s been around some goofy characters in his 28 years as a high school baseball coach, but these guys, well, they’re certifiably nuts.
They sing, dance and clap when the mood strikes, a collection of city kids in the Ironbound section of Newark infusing some Latin flavor into the game. Most are second-generation Hispanic Americans, sons of baseball die-hards from Puerto Rico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
“Baseball’s in their blood,” says Battaglini, whose team will face juggernaut Seton Hall Prep in the Greater Newark Tournament finals at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium today. “They love it. They live it. And it shows in their ebullience. They’ll chant. They’ll rock and they’ll roll. They enjoy themselves, they really do.”
Despite their character and winning streak, the East Side team stumbled in their face-off with Seton Hall last Saturday at Bears Stadium. Still, the players exhibited sportsmanship against the solid Seton Hall franchise: “Seton Hall Prep 5 (28-1), Newark East Side 1 (19-7)”:http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/1180216511212680.xml&coll=1.
There was little drama in the seventh as Edwin Cruz flew out to right and Porcello struck out Brayan Jimenez and Will Campana looking at fastballs.
“My fastball had good movement, so I wasn’t going away from it, even though they are a good fastball hitting team,” Porcello said. “It was nice to be able to come back here and win after we lost here last year.
It basically come down to Porcello’s strength against East Side’s strength.
“We told our kids to hit the first fastball they saw,” East Side coach Jerry Battaglini said. “Our guys were not intimidated. They wanted to face the best and we knew we’d make them make plays.”
Not that Seton Hall Prep coach Mike Sheppard Jr. expected anything less.
“East Side is a quality program and their kids play a lot of ball,” Sheppard said. “We expected them to put the ball in play, so we knew we were going to have to play solid defense.”
