Rye High Baseball

No Joy in Mudville: Top-Seeded Garnets Are Out

By Mitch Silver

One year ago, Coach Mike Bruno’s Garnets won their league for the fourth straight year and entered the Class A playoffs as the No. 3 seed. Shockingly, they lost to visiting Nyack in the opening round by a run, 4-3.

This year, Coach Mike Bruno’s Garnets won their league for a fifth straight year and entered the Class A playoffs as the No. 1 seed. Shockingly, they lost to visiting Brewster in the opening round by a run, 1-0.

As tough as 2017 was, 2018 was, arguably, worse. After the game, Coach Bruno could only shrug. “What’s there to say? Sean Thompson gave us seven great innings — four hits, two walks, 14 strikeouts — and no earned runs. Can’t ask for more than that.”

Right from spring training, Rye’s veteran mentor knew the team would only go as far as their bats would take them. Back in March he said, “Pitching and defense should be our strengths. But we’ll need to find a way to put runs on the board with small ball, situational hitting.”

The Garnets’ best chance to score came in the third inning when they loaded the bases with one out. As Sean Hale danced off third and the Feeley Field fans cheered, Alex Noga hit one sharply on the ground, too sharply to beat out the ensuing 4-6-3 double play.

An inning later, Finn Westerink crushed a pitch 350 feet on a line drive, only to have Brewster’s center fielder make a running left-handed catch.

The wheels came off for Rye in the top of the fifth when a couple of two-out errors gifted the Bears with their only run. Meanwhile, unsung Bobby McBride matched Thompson’s efforts for Brewster, yielding four hits — two of them to Gavin Kenny — while striking out seven.

Alex Noga hits it on the screws.