Up walked a stocky man with a white beard and a blue ball cap. It was Avo Asencio, a Met Opera security guard who manages the Pitch Hitters’ lineups. “I’m beginning to get the butterflies,” he said. Their opponents, the Met Museum’s Metropolitans, were undefeated. So were the Pitch Hitters, who had not lost since their inaugural game last season, against the local PBS station. (Team name: ThirTeam.) The Pitch Hitters had cumulatively outscored their nine foes this summer by a tally of eighty-four to fifteen. Four had forfeited. “I think it’s that they didn’t want to play us,” Asencio said. He is in his thirty-seventh year at the opera and his thirty-fourth in security, after starting in ticketing. “I’m not leaving until they let me sing,” he said. His daughter Alysa is an usher-outfielder. “This has been the highlight of my whole career,” Asencio said.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter