You’re likely already familiar with Rye High School senior A.J. Miller — who as starting quarterback of the Garnets’ football team helped lead it last year to its first state championship since 2008. But last weekend, when he added to his collection of clutch moments, it was on a baseball diamond, with a walk-off single that propelled RHS to the area’s Section 1 Class A quarterfinals.
It was a hard-fought victory: Despite jumping out to a 2-0 lead, Rye’s varsity baseball team required extra innings to secure their fifth-straight Section 1 quarterfinals appearance.
“We were very fortunate to come out on top today against a very tough league opponent,” Rye Coach Mike Bruno said afterward. “I’m happy with the effort, and we really needed to grind this one out.”
The Garnets opened the scoring with back-to-back RBI singles in the first inning from senior Charlie Margiloff and sophomore Jackson Pineault, giving them a cushion that lasted until Ardsley scored a run in the fourth and then tied the game in the fifth on an RBI single from junior Michael Depasquale.
Rye had its opportunities to put the game away early but failed to generate offense with runners in scoring position. This included an opportunity in the fifth, when the Garnets loaded the bases with no outs — but failed to score.
Sophomore pitcher Lucas London and Margiloff kept the score at 2-2 through six innings, at which point senior ace Shepherd Griffiths came on in an unusual appearance as a reliever. Griffiths kept Ardsley’s bats silent, striking out five batters over two innings of work. That set up the Garnets’ half of the eighth inning, in which London singled to right with one out and advanced to third on a single by Griffiths. Next up: Miller, who lined a base hit back up through the middle to score London and secure the win.
“We didn’t do some of the little things right today, and it almost came back to bite us,” Bruno said, “but we found a way in the end.”
It was a great start to the postseason for the Garnets, who ended the regular season with a 12-8 record, won their league for the third time in the past four seasons, and finished fifth overall among the 19 schools in Section 1’s Class A.
Their final regular-season games included a win over Edgemont in which Rye scored a season-high 15 runs, pitcher Peter Davies threw a no-hitter, and senior captain Tommy Broderick drove in a career-best four runs.