Quakers’ Season Ends With an Outbracket Loss to Mahopac
After a disappointing regular season, the Horace Greeley baseball team went on the road Thursday afternoon with a chance of earning some playoff redemption.
Unfortunately for the Quakers, their postseason didn’t last very long and turned out to be similar to their first 20 games. Mahopac right-hander Billy Moeller limited them to five hits over six innings, while striking out 10 batters, as the 15th-seeded host Indians defeated 18th-seeded Greeley 4-1 in a Section 1, Class AA outbracket game at Mahopac Falls Elementary School.
Frustration arrived quickly for the Quakers, who stranded a pair of runners in scoring position with only one out in the top of the first inning and then played from behind the whole game. In addition to all the strikeouts, they wound up hitting into three double plays.
“That was big,” said Quakers head coach Anthony Marino about his team’s inability to push across a run in the opening inning. “You always want to score the first run of the game and just put pressure on the other team. So it was big by them to get us out. It’s always a big mental boost for the other team.”
The Indians got another boost in the bottom of the first when leadoff hitter Mike Musantry lined Greeley starter Eli Thaler’s first pitch of the day to the right-center-field gap for a double. One out later, after stealing third base, Musantry scored the game’s first run on Tom Krasniqi’s single up the middle.
Mahopac’s Moeller collected his third and fourth strikeouts in the top of the second, then the Indians added to their lead in the bottom of the inning even though Thaler retired the first two batters. Connor Stepkoski reached on a slow roller down the third-base line and went to second on the errant, late throw to first base. He moved to third on a wild pitch and later scored after Steven Daly, who had walked, got caught in a rundown that lasted long enough for a dash toward home.
“We had him picked,” said Marino about the Indians’ Daly. “That’s what’s frustrating, knowing that we had that out. It should’ve been the third out of the inning and we just didn’t execute the rundown properly. So we could’ve been out of that inning.”
Trailing by two runs, the Quakers threatened in the top of the third inning. Jake Berwin led off with a single, then raced to third as Jacob Small slapped a single into right field. Small stole second, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs. But Alek Kevorkian lined to second base and Small was caught too far off the base for a double play. Nate Jbara’s infield hit toward short then brought in Berwin with Greeley’s only run of the game.
Thaler struck out the side in the fourth inning, but Moeller did the same to the Quakers in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the inning, Mahopac reached Thaler for four hits, including an RBI double down the right-field line by the lefty-swinging Kyle Brandstetter and a run-scoring bloop single into left by another lefty, Anthony Caminitti. The inning ended with Jbara, the Quakers’ catcher, picking off Dylan Brehm at second base, but Greeley was now facing a 4-1 deficit.
“You’re keeping it to a one-run game and all of a sudden, it’s more,” said Marino. “And then you realize you haven’t done much offensively for the whole game. It does make it difficult. But this one felt close because we had opportunities. We just couldn’t cash in.”
There were opportunities in both the sixth and seventh innings for the Quakers. In the sixth, Jbara led off with a line single to right. But Greg Murray followed by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play and then Tyler Rosenberg flied out to left to end the inning. In the seventh, facing new Mahopac pitcher Anthony Volpicella, leadoff hitter Matt Lohrs blooped a single over short. Then Volpicella got a strikeout and induced pinch-hitter Adam Neuberger to hit into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.
“Yeah, two times,” said Marino about the late-game double plays turned by the Indians. “You hit the ball hard, so they have more time to do it. It was almost like tailor-made. They didn’t even have to move. It was uncanny, unfortunately for us. But that’s the game. They made the big plays when they had to.”
The outbracket loss by the Quakers was probably not too disappointing to White Plains, seeded second in the sectional playoffs and waiting next in the opening round. They would have had to face Greeley ace Brandon Neeck, who was held back Thursday against 7-13 Mahopac for a chance to break open the tournament bracket with a pitching gem against the Tigers.
“Well, I told the kids from the beginning he’s not pitching in this game,” said Marino. “Eli Thaler is a very competent pitcher, a very good high school pitcher, and he’s gonna pitch in college. I felt very confident in him, and having Brandon ready for a White Plains if we made it. I have no second thoughts about that. Whether people agree, whatever.”
Even though their season is over now, there still figures to be quite a bit of excitement for the Quakers with Neeck, the standout southpaw, expected to hear his name called during the MLB Draft in a couple of weeks.
“Where he winds up, we’ll find out in June,” said Marino, who has been in frequent contact with seven of the MLB scouts. “We go back and forth. I give them anecdotal stories about his commitment, about his work ethic. And they seem to love him. It’s exciting, not only for him and his family, but for his teammates and us, as coaches. It’s everybody’s dream, coaches and players alike.”
The anticipation surrounding Neeck’s immediate future will provide some solace for the Quakers after their 5-15 season, followed by a quick exit in the playoffs.
“It’s frustrating because no matter what you have, you always want more,” said Marino. “But at the same time, we have to be realistic. We want to set our goals realistically. This was not a 20-win team. But I don’t believe we’re a five-win team either. I think we should’ve been better than that.”
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
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