Tito Rohena
is making his pitch

By Joe Mason
For the Times

Edwin Rohena Jr. gets a lot from his father.
The Frankford High School sophomore gets his name, including his nickname, "Tito."
He also gets plenty of encouragement.
And he gets his love for baseball.
"The ‘Tito’ name was my dad’s, and then everyone started calling me that when I was younger," Rohena said. "He’s a huge baseball fan, he still plays softball all the time. But he always tells me I’m better than he ever was."
As they say, father knows best.
Last year as a freshman, Rohena became an important part of the Pioneers’ star-studded lineup as Frankford advanced to the Public League championship game but fell to Central.
A lot of freshmen would have fond memories of a season that ended in a title game. But last year provides Rohena with desire, not pride.
And it shows.
This year, Rohena is still a fine outfielder and he’s one of the top hitters on the young Frankford squad. But the biggest difference between this year and last year is Rohena’s presence on the mound, where he’s Frankford’s No. 2 pitcher behind junior Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche.
"This year has been great, from going to Florida to now," said Rohena, referring to the Pioneers’ trip south for spring training.
Thus far, he has been perfect on the mound for Frankford, which was 10-1 in the Public League A Division standings as the Times went to press, and also clinched at least a share of the regular-season title with three games still to go.
"This year has been tough because every team is pretty good," Rohena said. "I think we’re pretty good, too, and we’ve been able to win a lot of games.
"It helps to have good pitching, and I hope people think we have good pitching," added Rohena, a North Philadelphia resident. "Shortie is a really good pitcher, and when he’s not out there, I go out and try to do my best."
In his latest effort, a 5-3 victory over Northeast, Rohena certainly earned his stripes. With one out in the fourth inning, a Viking batter swatted a line drive to the mound. Rohena knocked the ball down, recovered and got the out.
He also got a nasty mark on his throwing hand — an imprint of the ball’s laces on his wrist.
"It hurt, but I wanted to make the play," said Rohena, who completed the inning before giving way to Meletiche, who picked up the win in relief. "Once I got the out, then I thought about it for a second and it hurt. I really didn’t want to come out of the game, but it stung."
The injury was diagnosed as a bone bruise, which, of course, is better than a break, as far as Rohena and his teammates are concerned.
"Tito’s a gamer," Frankford coach Bob Peffle said. "He knew coming into the year that we needed him to pitch important games for us. He’s young, he’s a tough kid and a hard worker, and he’s a very good player . . . he’s going to be good for a long time."
Rohena is eager to see the Pioneers finish the regular season on a strong note and return to the playoffs.
After all, the juniors and seniors on this year’s team have experienced the joy of winning Public League championships, but Rohena only remembers the long bus ride home from Campbell’s Field in Camden, N.J., the site of last year’s defeat in the Public League championship game.
"We’re all really excited about the playoffs," said Rohena, who started at centerfield in last year’s title game and had two hits. "I really thought we were going to win last year, but we got beat by a good team on a day we didn’t play our best.
"It hurt, but I think it could help us if we remember what it felt like," he reasoned. "I know I remember what it felt like. But we know that we can be beat, and if we don’t play our best, we might not win."
Rohena is thankful that he has three more years to help the Pioneers win a championship. He also knows that some of his teammates will not be back next year, which makes this year all the more important.
"We only have a few seniors, but they want to go out strong," Rohena said. "And this is (Peffle’s) last year, so this is it for this team. We’ll have a new team next year, but we want to win it this year as a team." ••
Joe Mason can be reached at joemason70@hotmail.com