The top-seeded Rye baseball team beat No. 4 Horace Greeley 5-0 Friday in the first game of the Section 1 Class AA semifinals. For the second straight playoff game, the Garnets got a complete game shutout from their starting pitcher.
Michael Bubeck allowed just four base runners and struck out two in seven innings Friday.
“Just a great job by Bubeck,” said Rye coach Mike Bruno. “He pitched really well, and we played really outstanding defense behind him. He only gave up three hits, but the defense was phenomenal.”
The Garnets now advance in the winner’s bracket, where they’ll face No. 3 Yorktown on Tuesday. The Huskers beat No. 2 seed Mahopac 3-2 in Friday’s other semifinal. With one more win, Rye will play in the championship of the double-elimination tournament on May 30.
“Yorktown’s an extremely hot team,” Bruno said. “I think they might’ve won 11 in a row, so they’ve come on — they started 1-6, so they’ve come on, and I think they had a couple-game win streak and then 11-game win streak, so they’re a very tough opponent, but we’re home, so that’s good.”
The Garnets (17-5) have won eight straight games for the second time this season. Rye beat Yorktown 11-3 in the fourth game of the season on April 8. After winning the Class A section tournament a year ago, Rye is closing in on a repeat in the Class AA bracket.
In the first inning Friday, junior Luke Ontaneda hit a two-run home run. The Garnets finished the game with four hits, adding runs in the second and fifth innings.
“The players are just really pumped up, ready to go for Yorktown,” Bruno said. “Hopefully we can get the win, be in the driver’s seat, and move onto the final.”
Dating back to the regular-season finale against Harrison, Rye has outscored its past three opponents by a combined score of 17-0.
