VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Bronx, N.Y., natives Alex Angulo and Tyler Roche have been deeply affected by gun violence in their neighborhoods back home, but the pair are working hard to use baseball and the Hank Aaron Invitational as their way out of the mean streets.

Angulo’s story is a heartbreaking one: a mother protecting her son and the child vowing to carry her spirit forward.

Last November, Angulo, during his sophomore year of high school, was waiting for a friend to come over to his home, a first-floor apartment in the Concourse Village neighborhood of the Bronx.

Suddenly, he and his mother, Wendy Martinez, heard loud knocking on the front door.

Perhaps wary of the frantic nature of the clatter, Martinez refused to let her 15-year-old son answer the door, and when she looked through the peephole she was shot and killed by a gang member.

“Normally I answer the door, but that day she stopped me,” said Angulo after Monday morning’s workout at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex.

An infielder who plays shortstop and third base, Angulo is an incredibly composed, thoughtful youngster, considering the tragedy he has endured in less than a year’s time.

“It was very hard for me, very tragic. My family didn’t want me to stay in New York so I went to the Dominican Republic for a month and a half,” said Angulo of escaping to his mother's homeland.

The shooting was intended for his older brother, part of a rival gang. Instead of being angry about the incident, the younger Angulo said he remains close to his older sibling.

He has also moved in with his grandparents, and the similarities between his maternal grandmother and mother are as obvious and heartfelt as his mother’s final protective act.

“My grandmother tries to be just like my mom. She knew that my mother and I were best friends. She tries to do her hardest, so I’ll stay the same,” Angulo said.

“She pushes me just as hard as my mom did in baseball.”

Angulo said he sticks to his mother’s wish for him to receive a quality education, and will focus on that and baseball to take him forward in his life.

“My mom always wanted me to go to college. Her favorite thing to tell me was if she could make it to community college, I could go higher since I was born [in the U.S.],” Angulo said.

Roche has already committed to pitch at St. John’s University in Queens, and the senior-to-be has learned that violence doesn’t discriminate when it comes to hurting people -- or in his case, attempting to hurt people.

“It’s rough,” Roche said of daily life back home. “Coming home on the train from workouts, when it’s been 'leg day' and your legs are all sore, and all of a sudden you have to run from a group of guys who are trying to rob you.

“But that’s just the environment.”

Roche is active in volunteer work, and he became even more involved when his close friend Sincear Williams, 16, was shot and killed in 2017 with Roche standing close by.

Williams’ mother, Stephanie Garcia, started a non-profit group -- Forever Sincear Inc. -- committed to stopping youth-on-youth violence.

“I work with her, and we go out and speak to the communities on stopping these things. We hope to get the message across. I’ve learned a lot,” said Roche.

Making the trip south to Vero Beach is high on Roche’s list of things to do, and he anxiously awaits the opportunity for camps like the HAI.

“It’s a safety net down here,” Roche said of coming to Florida’s Treasure Coast. “It’s something I like doing and keeps me focused. There are too many distractions [back home]. New York is a busy place with a lot of things to do.

“Every time I get that ticket invoice that says I’m coming down to Vero Beach, I get a little excited.”

Roche, who attends Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, said he also helps raise funds for his school’s scholarship fund, and that community work is important to him.

Roche said he spent the last six weeks going over all the information given to him in June’s camp.

Former big league pitcher Pat Mahomes, who worked with Roche early last month in the diversity-focused “Breakthrough Series,” said he has noticed an improvement in the right-hander in the six weeks since the previous camp.

“He’s become more consistent,” Mahomes said. “He has a great idea of how to pitch already. He and I worked on the little things in June -- him staying back on his backside and using his legs a little more. I could definitely see the improvement in how well he threw the ball the other day.

“I think he’s only going to get better and better. He has a chance to play this game for a long time.”

And maybe make a return trip to the Bronx -- at Yankee Stadium.