Jimenez leads Maritime with unflinching paitence

WHEN YOU'RE at home plate and a baseball barrels toward your head, the smart thing to do is to get out of the way.

Ah, but when the pitcher aims his curveball at your ear and the ball breaks over the plate, a bailing batter can emerge red-faced if the pitch is a strike.

Marcus Jimenez, a junior for Maritime Academy, knows that feeling well. Jimenez typically plays rightfield but usually yields to a designated hitter because he's been a flincher at the plate.

"I just always think it's gonna hit me so I just don't want to take that hit," said a smiling Jimenez, yesterday's unlikely hero. "I want to get that hit. Then, instead of getting hit by the ball, I step out and it becomes a strike."

Trying to reward his player's recent resilience, Seadogs' coach Matt Wilson batted Jimenez ninth yesterday against New Foundations. It's a spot where outs aren't necessarily detrimental to the team.

So, who would have thought Jimenez would be the key to the Seadogs' 12-10 Public League Division D triumph?

The early odds were against the Tacony resident who struck out on six pitches during his first two at-bats, offering one tentative swing and recoiling away from a few bending pitches.

"Gotta swing the bat Marc," a teammate encouraged.

At-bat No. 3 came in the fourth inning with runners on the corners and the Seadogs clinging to a one-run lead. After two strikes zoomed past, Jimenez again looked overmatched.

However, this time he smoked the next pitch deep to leftfield, just short of the tall trees that line the field at Frankford and Comly.

Two runs scored and the Seadogs (4-0) were on their way to glory.

"I didn't even see where it went," said Jimenez, who reached third after a throwing error. "I just ran."

Jimenez gave the Seadogs a 10-7 advantage and was later sent home on a single by sophomore Edwin Rivera. The final run was walked home in the sixth.

The Bulldogs were led by seniors Sean McCloskey (2-for-4, two RBI) and Tyler White (1-for-3, two RBI). New Foundations (1-1) erased a 3-1 deficit in the first and seized a 4-3 advantage in the third.

However, Maritime junior Cody Sweeten doubled with the bases loaded in the third and scored after two throwing errors.

The Bulldogs tallied thrice more in the seventh before sophomore pitcher Julio Ramos shut the door to earn the complete-game victory, striking out 11 and allowing seven hits.

Jimenez had a noticeably confident bop as he sauntered to the plate for his final at-bat.

"Way more confidence," he said. "Just knowing I hit the ball last time helped me out."

He struck out looking, again vexed by a curve. Turns out you can't blame him for flinching at the plate. He has valuable stuff tucked into that helmet. He carries a 3.8 GPA and wants to pursue a Ph.D. in engineering.

"I love to build stuff," he said. "Recently, I've been working on a go-kart project. Just put a new engine in there, put a new clutch in there, put a new throttle cable in there and I also had to adjust a sprocket.

"I was just bored and I wanted to do something. I love building stuff. Ever since I was younger I used to always build with Legos or K'Nex then I would take them apart and put them back together."

Later, he revealed a tattoo on the inside of his right arm that shows "Vigor" scrawled in cursive underneath five mechanical sprockets.

He never played baseball before ninth grade, but went out for the team for something to do. Maritime only played a JV schedule last season so this is his first year of varsity sports.

"I basically just wanted to be on the team and help everybody out," he said. "I obviously wanted to start, everybody wants to start. This is a 4-0 team in our first year in varsity. Nobody thought we could win. Everybody doubted us but we came back with all these wins. It feels awesome."

But those darned curveballs . . .

No flinching next time, right?

"Nah," he said smiling. "If that curveball comes in, I'm just gonna let it hit me."