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Queens school Little League has a new borough champ. IS 61, the Da Vinci School in Corona, won their game against the IS 235 Academy for New Americans in Astoria to claim the title on Monday, cementing a perfect 8-0 record for the season.

Coaches Jose Guzman and Joe DiDominico led their team to the top of the Queens division in its first year of participation in the NYC Middle School Baseball league, the only free program of its kind in the city. The game was called at the top of the fifth inning with a final score of 8-1.

Both teams put in a solid performance, with the New Americans up 1-0 in the first inning. The New Americans had an insatiable hunger for stealing bases and the players tried to build momentum after the Da Vinci school broke ahead with a triple by Wilvin Laguar. A steady series of hits from Gevaldo Santana, Noel Hernandez, Juniel Urbaez and Albert Rodriguez in the third inning putting them ahead 6-1.

"The secret is singles. Don't think about home runs, just hit the ball" said Carlos Correia, 14, from IS 235.

With bases loaded, the New Americans got the fatal third out and were not able to rally. They came into the game as the underdog, with a 2-4 record that still put them in second place because they were in a three way tie with the other two schools in the division: IS 204 and the Renaissance Charter School.

"A lot of these kids never heard of baseball, or didn't play it in their home countries," said New Americans coach and math teacher Jeff Cohen. Of the 19 players originally on the team, the New Americans had recent immigrants from 10 countries represented, including Colombia, Puerto Rico, Bangladesh, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Pakistan, Mexico and Ecuador.

"Some of these kids we had to teach to drop the bat," said Cohen, referring the cricket that still flows in the blood of the south Asian players.

The unstoppable Da Vinci team was armed with a talented young pitcher named Albert Rodriguez, who his coaches called "the ace of the staff." He had given up only one run in the season before this game and at one point had a streak of seven strike outs to ensure the Da Vinci fielders had some breathing room.

The Da Vinci MVP of the game was Gevaldo Santana, the first baseman. Both coaches also commended their catchers, who according to DiDominico, "is the most underappreciated, get beat up position" in the game.

"We did our best - this is the first time playing baseball for most of these kids. We came in second and lost to a better team. Nothing to hang your head about," said Cohen as the teams lined up to shake hands.

Da Vinci goes on to play the Bronx champions next week, hoping to go all the way and reach the top of the 29 teams in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.

The more than 600 player league is a partnership between the City Department of Education, the City Parks Department and the Pinnacle Group, a real estate management company that sponsored the entire cost of the program.