Baseball players from Dominican Republic thrive with Norwich Legion team

There was a man on first base with one out in the top of the first inning when Randy Jimenez stepped into the batter’s box. Jimenez had blasted a pair of triples to lead Norwich to a big victory over Moosup just the day before and, apparently, Moosup’s coaching staff had seen enough of the talented player from the Dominican Republic. Jimenez was intentionally walked.

“That’s a big sign of respect,” Norwich assistant general manager Tom Pietruczuk said.

Jimenez was also intentionally walked during his second at bat. For trivia buffs, this may well be the first time in Norwich’s rich American Legion Baseball history that a player was given a free pass in his first two at-bats during a regular season game.

Norwich went on to edge Moosup, 6-5, in extra innings behind a terrific pitching performance from the Dominican Republic’s Jeremy Garcia-Munoz and a walk-off single by David Reischerl.

Legion baseball participation been on steady decline

Participation in American Legion Baseball has been on a steady decline in Connecticut over the past few seasons. There are only five Zones now (compared to eight just a few years ago) and just 30 Senior Legion teams state-wide. Legion staples Branford, West Haven, Niantic, Jewett City and New London didn’t even field 19U teams this summer.

Norwich continued its amazing rebuild by qualifying for the state tournament for the fourth consecutive summer. The leading hitters for Norwich were post-graduates and former Norwich Free Academy standouts Mason Bordeau and Anthony Sanchez. Norwich’s roster also got a tremendous boost from an unexpected place: the Dominican Republic.

Shortly before the season began Pietruczuk received a text from NFA baseball coach Anthony Turgeon and learned that three baseball players from the Dominican Republic were living with relatives in Norwich. It didn’t take long for Pietruczuk to get tryouts for Maximo Sanchez, Jimenez, and Garcia-Munoz.

Great late additions to the roster

“It was a nice surprise because they’re pretty talented players,” Pietruczuk said. “They were great late additions. They have been pretty big catalysts for the summer.”

Jimenez, a tall, lanky righthander with a fastball in the upper 80s, and Garcia-Munoz, another righthander with terrific offspeed stuff, bolstered a pitching staff that included NFA standout Daniel St. George and NFA postgraduate Jason Hicks.

Max Sanchez, who has one of the strongest arms in the zone, has been a starter all season in right field.

“It wasn’t expected to have them,” Norwich first-year coach Stephen Sieczkowski said. “It’s definitely a plus. We’ve got two good arms and a great right fielder. The biggest thing is their energy and positivity. It doesn't matter how the game is going, these guys just want to play. And they play the game hard. I know I can count on those three to give me 110 percent on every play.

After five seasons as Norwich’s head coach, Pietruczuk moved into a front office role alongside general manager Brent Southworth. It was hectic getting their three new players eligible, including one just minutes before the first game of the season.

“There was a lot of paperwork and as expected the process had a lot of slow moving parts,” Pietruczuk said. “We got them cleared and eligible but it took a little bit longer than I would have liked.”

Language barrier not an issue in baseball

Besides juggling a revolving lineup, Sieczkowski and the Norwich players faced a major language barrier as Jimenez, Garcia-Munoz, and Sanchez do not speak English.

“It wasn’t easy but we found a way to manage,” Sieczkowski said. “It’s a lot of hand signals. I’m learning a lot of Spanish every day. It’s fun. The kids are learning more Spanish than me. The chemistry is great. They have fun with it. They teach me some slang and it helps them stay loose throughout the game and helps them to be able to play and enjoy it.”

Norwich third baseman Derek Macy, a junior at NFA, and Anthony Sanchez both speak Spanish and were helpful during the season.

“There’s been a learning curve on both sides but it’s been going pretty good,” Pietruczuk said.

Macy served as an interpreter during a recent interview with the Dominican trio.

“It’s different because of how fun it is here,” Garcia-Munoz said. “It’s good here. In our country we practice a lot to get signed but here it’s really a game.”

All three players have hopes of continuing to play baseball in college.

Future plans

“Randy is definitely ready for college,” Sieczkowski said. “He still has a lot of room to learn but every kid does at this level.”

All three players expressed tremendous gratitude to the Norwich program. Max Sanchez, who is 16, may enroll at NFA in the fall.

“We are thankful,” Jimenez said. “Not everyone has this opportunity.”

The Norwich players also enjoyed competing with their new teammates during a memorable baseball summer.

“It’s good to bring in new guys,” Bordeau said. “We had a tight-knit bond and we brought them in like our own. It meshed well and we had a good season.”

Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @jzanorNB.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Trio from Dominican Republic gives Norwich Legion baseball an edge