Glenwood’s Amaury Telemaco provides rain-delay fun with dance-off

Thursday was a long day for Glenwood baseball, but with the help of pitcher Amaury Telemaco, the afternoon became a little more bearable.

After the second inning of Glenwood’s first of two playoff games against Northside Methodist Academy, the rain clouds rolled into The Swamp, setting up a delay of nearly two hours. With little to do during that time besides watch the radar and seek a place to dry out, Telemaco instead gave onlookers a third option.

Telemaco took on Northside Methodist’s Braydon Peters in an on-field dance-off, sending fans of both teams howling with laughter as they waited out the weather.

Telemaco said he’s always dancing in the dugout during games but had never done so publicly. Still, he said he knew his teammates would come to him for some comic relief, so he volunteered to put on a show.

And that he did. After both players freestyled their opening acts, the Glenwood radio booth put on “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” which seemed to only intensify the focus of both players.

Telemaco provided his play-by-play of the showdown set to Soulja Boy after the fact.

“Oh yeah. That was a nice move,” Telemaco said as he watched Peters’ part. “I was like, ‘OK … Oh yeah.’ (My part), it’s like breakdancing, something like that. Then I drop it, you know.”

Telemaco wasn’t done there. After a brief return to the dugout, he came back to the field and positioned himself like a sniper on the pitching mound. With a bat as a make-believe rifle and his aim centered on the opponent’s dugout, Telemaco closed an eye to line up his shot. His focus was met with return fire in the form of baseballs from the Northside Methodist battalion.

“I saw it in a minor leagues video,” Telemaco said. “I was like, OK, let’s bring it here. It was funny.”

Telemaco’s name may ring a bell to Major League Baseball fans. His father, Amaury Telemaco Sr., was a pitcher by trade as well. He debuted with the Chicago Cubs in 1996 to begin a nine-year career at baseball’s highest level. He also spent time with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies and is now the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Latin American pitching coordinator.

The younger Telemaco has been around baseball his entire life. For him, the moment was more than just a chance to strut his stuff in front of a live audience.

“The most important thing in baseball is having a relationship with your team,” Telemaco said. “This sport, you put love and passion into it. Why not share it with other teams and other people? You have to spread the happiness. It’s magic: You just have to let it happen.”

The rainy day got better for the Gators. Although they lost the opening game 4-3, they answered back in a big way in Game 2, winning 15-2 in five innings. As a result, the Gators will play a decisive Game 3 at 2:30 p.m. Friday to determine which team advances to the next round.

Glenwood eventually turned the attention back to baseball, but Telemaco stealing the show will be hard for anyone to forget.

“One day, we’re going to look back and have those memories and precious moments with our teammates,” Telemaco said. “I wouldn’t change that moment for anything.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Glenwood’s Amaury Telemaco provides rain-delay fun with dance-off."