Bobcats Dethrone Rye in the Class A Championship Game

It didn’t require an abundance of clairvoyance to expect that the Byram Hills baseball team might be meeting Rye for the Class A championship this season.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when the two teams took the field under a mixed sky at Provident Bank Park late Saturday afternoon with a sectional title up for grabs.

“I think we’ve been on a collision course for this for probably a year in the making,” said Bobcats coach Scott Saunders.

“I mean,’ added Byram Hills shortstop Kellen Hatheway, “we figured it was gonna happen since the beginning of the season. We always thought it was gonna be us and Rye in the finals.”

The inevitable showdown of the two best teams in Class A was delayed more than 90 minutes by the 14-inning Class B marathon game that preceded it, but the Bobcats won’t be complaining anytime soon. With Frankie Vesuvio pitching a five-hitter and striking out eight Garnets to earn MVP honors, Byram Hills overcame an early deficit to win 4-3, dethroning the defending champs and capturing the first baseball title in school history.

“We were waiting for this for so long, it just feels great,” said Vesuvio amid the postgame euphoria after retiring Rye in order in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the Bobcats’ precarious one-run lead. “We went down early, but we couldn’t stop there. We had to fight. You knew it was gonna be a battle.”

“Couldn’t have scripted it any better,” said Saunders. “I have nothing but respect for Rye and Coach (Michael) Bruno. He’s a fantastic guy, a fantastic coach. But this year was our turn.”

Still, the Bobcats, who had handed top-seeded Rye its first loss midway through the season, found themselves in a 2-0 hole after a couple of innings. Garnet starting pitcher Tim DeGraw retired the first six Byram batters, while his counterpart, Vesuvio, struggled at the outset.

DeGraw led off the bottom of the first inning with a booming double to the gap in left-center field and soon moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Tim Hale. Sam Lubeck then laced the first pitch he saw into right for an RBI single that quickly got Rye on the scoreboard. Even though Vesuvio ended the inning with consecutive strikeouts, more trouble was awaiting him in the second.

With one out, Keith Secon walked and George Kirby was plunked by a pitch. When Vesuvio tried to pick Kirby off at first base, the ball wound up all the way down the right-field line, enabling Secon to come around with Rye’s second run. But Vesuvio stranded Kirby at third by striking out Brendan Cassano and retiring DeGraw on a sharp grounder that second baseman Tom Gagliardi dove to stop.

“I think after that long wait at the beginning of the game when we were so antsy to get going, we just kind of had to get the cobwebs out,” said Saunders. “That first game took so long.”

The second-seeded Bobcats bounced back in the top of the third as Michael Aberman smacked a one-out single to center. After Nick Sapone fouled out near the Bobcats’ dugout, Vesuvio crushed a DeGraw offering over the head of left fielder Matt Bruno for an RBI double. Gagliardi grounded to second to end the inning, but the Bobcats would get even an inning later.

Leading off the top of the fourth, Hatheway, who set the school record for career hits this season, blasted a double all the way to the wall in right-center field. One out later, he moved to third on Nick Contillo’s long fly to center. Jake Stuckelman then reached out and dumped a bloop double into left field to score Hatheway and tie the game.

The inning should have ended when Kevin Wietsma grounded to second, but the ball was booted. A wild pitch scored Stuckelman with the go-ahead run and Aberman followed with an RBI single to right that just eluded second baseman Lubeck. Ryan Anderson took over for DeGraw on the mound and retired Sapone to finally end the inning.

“We said before the game we had to be patient,” said Saunders. “We had to make sure we made the most of our opportunities. That inning, certainly we did.”

Rye was retired in order in its half of the fourth, but the Garnets moved to within 4-3 an inning later as DeGraw singled with one out and, one batter later, came all the way around on a hit by Lubeck that got past charging right fielder Sapone. But Lubeck was cut down trying to reach third base on a call that took about a minute for the umpires to make.

“Unfortunately, we had the error,” said Saunders. “But we always talk about making sure we don’t compound the error. We kind of stop the bleeding where it’s at. He got the relay in and we gunned the guy at third, got us out of the inning.”

In the top of the sixth, the Bobcats had an opportunity to regain their two-run lead, but pinch runner Anthony Russo was thrown out at home trying to score on Wietsma’s infield hit up the middle. In the bottom of the inning, the Garnets’ Bruno ripped a one-out single, but Vesuvio got Ryan Ciardiello to bounce into a quick 4-6-3 double play turned by Gagliardi and Hatheway.

“That was the biggest play of the game,” said Vesuvio, “because if they got another batter up, then the top of the order would’ve come up in the seventh. That would’ve been a different game.”

The Bobcats were retired in order in their half of the seventh, setting the stage for the dramatic last turn at the plate for Rye. But Vesuvio removed the suspense, retiring Secon on a first-pitch fly to left and Kirby on a pop to second that Gagliardi eagerly gobbled up. Pinch hitter Campbell Schultz then lifted a fly ball to left field that was caught by Aberman, setting off a wild Bobcat celebration in the infield.

“Feels great,” said Hatheway. “Finally. It’s about time we got it done. We’ve wanted this every year I’ve been in high school and it feels great to get it my senior year.”

“We were tired of losing in the semis,” said Vesuvio, who figures to be back on the mound again when the Bobcats play in the state regionals on Saturday, either in Saugerties or Binghamton. “We just had to get past it, had to battle, and came out and won it.”

“This is great,” said Saunders, moments before being doused with Gatorade by his giddy players. “We believed. We just believed. We started working, probably in September when we got back to school. And this is the fruition of all that work. These boys deserve it, man. I’m really, really happy for ‘em. I’m really proud of ‘em.”

Asked how long it had been since the last Bobcat baseball title, Saunders admitted he really didn’t know.

“It’s unclear,” he said. “I970, we have a banner in the gym. But our historian says that we didn’t win it that year. So we’re not quite sure. But we know we won it today.”