The LoHud Baseball Blog

Coming into Saturday’s 12th annual Christopher Tantalos Memorial Tournament, Mahopac was in major need of a confidence boost. The Indians began the season 11-0-1, but had dropped five of their last six coming into the tourney—including four losses in a row. But with a 7-1 win over Panas in the first round and a 5-2 win over John Jay in the championship game, Mahopac was able pick up a couple of much needed mental-health wins.

“Every team is going to have a couple of games where they don’t play their best and you kind of get into a little slump, and we hit ours in the last couple of weeks,” coach Chris Miller said. “You’d rather have it happen earlier in the season so that you build your way into the postseason, so today it was really, really important for us to play well and play the way that we had for the first month of the season. We did that today, and now I think everybody feels good. The monkey is off our back.”

As had been the case when the Indians were playing so well earlier in the season, they relied heavily on pitching and defense. Senior Matt Bass pitched 6.1 innings of one-run ball in the first game against Panas, and then Steve Zeiss, Greg O’Connell and Anthony Lenahan combined for a five-hitter in the championship.

“That’s been us the whole year,” Miller said. “We don’t have guys who are going to drive the ball 400 feet all around the field. We don’t have a lineup like that, but we pitch well, we play good defense, and if we can keep teams down to like three runs or less – like we did in both games today – we feel like we can manufacture a couple of runs.”

I’ve seen Mahopac play three times now this season, and they certainly don’t have the type of offense that is going to put up a tremendous amount of runs on a game-to-game basis. Their biggest RBI threat is probably No. 3 hitter Elliot Haight—who went 1 for 1 with an RBI and three walks against John Jay—but this isn’t a group of mashers. They have a good approach 1 through 9, are willing to take their walks and be aggressive on the basepaths.

“We’re pretty scrappy,” Haight said. “If there are runners on second and third, a weak groundball to second will do the job to get the run in. Sacrifice bunting, sacrifice flies—just having productive outs.”

Seven hits, seven walks and four errors from John Jay led to five runs for Mahopac. Haight was walked with the bases loaded in the second, two runs scored on two errors in the fourth, Vin D’Ambrosio hit an RBI single in the fifth, and Haight scored on another error in the sixth. Mahopac had no extra-base hits in the game, but took advantage of some costly defensive mistakes from John Jay.

“We try to stress approaches at the plate – looking for certain pitches in certain spots, and if you don’t get it, take it,” Miller said. “Because we do that, we end up taking our walks. And when we get the walks, now when you put the ball in play an error is compounded.”

Mahopac seems to feel pretty optimistic about its chances in the playoffs because it has three capable starters. Bass earned his fourth win today as their No. 3 starter, with sophomore LHP Kevin Kernan and junior RHP Dylan Jorde lined up to potentially pitch on Wednesday and Thursday.

“We’ve developed the three, and they’ve all pitched very, very well all year long for us,” Miller said. “If we go 1, 2, 3, we would feel comfortable to give the ball to the next guy up.”

John Jay came out of the day with some positive and negative signs. They beat a strong Fox Lane team 9-8 in a thrilling first round game, and really showed some fight. After taking a 4-0 lead, the Foxes rallied back with eight runs to take what felt like a commanding 8-4 lead. But John Jay put up five runs in the top of sixth, which was capped by Brian Gleason’s two-out, two-run double to retake a 9-8 lead.

But as has been the case pretty much every time that I’ve seen John Jay this season, sloppy defense cost them dearly in the championship game.

“The story of our losses this season has been our inability to get outs that we should be getting, and then making our pitcher go for four outs or five. Our formula for sectionals is simple,” John Jay coach Geoff Curtis said. “We’ve beat some big teams – RC Ketcham, JFK and Fox Lane this morning, so we can compete with anybody. We just have to choose to do. You can’t show up and just play OK, because teams will take it to you.”

As Curtis pointed out, John Jay has proven that it can play with pretty much any team in the section. But after starting the season 7-3-1, they finished with an 8-11-1 record, which certainly puts them in outbracket territory in Class A. This is a dangerous team, they’re not going to go far if they continue to commit multiple errors in each game.

“The most important thing is that we got ourselves in the dance,” Curtis said. “At the end of the day, you look at it like it’s the NCAA, and you got in. So now we have to go do some damage.”

Fox Lane beat Panas in the consolation game, 9-2, and is a team that can certainly do some damage in Class AA, but the Foxes have to settle their pitching situation. Julian Haddad looked like he was emerging as their No. 1 after a great performance against George Washington a few weeks back, but he didn’t make out of the second inning today against John Jay. It doesn’t sound like he’s going to start in the first round, and it really isn’t clear who will. As I keep telling you guys, pitching depth may be the single most important factor when it comes to winning a section title this year because of how the schedule lines up.

“I think you’ve got a lot of teams with six losses or less,” Miller said of Class AA. “I think because of that, you have a lot of talented teams. There’s some great players throughout Section 1, but when you play in a playoff scenario, if that guy pitches Game 1, who pitches Game 2?”

Between tonight and tomorrow, I’m going to crunch the numbers and post my seeding projections by Sunday night. It’s going to be very interesting, particularly in Class AA, because there are a lot of teams with similar records. I’ll tweet the link once the projections are ready.

Here are the rest of the results that we’ve received so far from Saturday, with a few late scores from Friday:

Tappan Zee 8, Pearl River 3: At Pearl River Friday, Ryan Grant went 1 for 3 with a run, a double and two RBI. Winning pitcher Chris Monaco struck out four in six innings. Patrick Gannon went 1 for 1 with a run and two RBI for the Pirates.

Harrison 20, Port Chester 0: At Port Chester Friday, Raffaele Maccaia went 2 for 3 with three runs, three RBI, and a walk. Jack McCarthy went 3 for 4 with two runs, three RBI, and walk. Robert Rodriguez went 2 for 3 for the Rams.

Nyack 10, Yonkers 9: At Nyack Friday, Brendan O’Sullivan went 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBI. Jesse Moses went 1 for 3 with a run and two RBI. Carlo Francisco went 1 for 4 with two runs, a triple, and an RBI for Yonkers.

Dobbs Ferry 9, Hastings 1: At Hastings Friday, Eddie Rich went 2 for 2 with two RBI and one run. Danny Crowe, who went 2 for 2 with two RBI and a run, went six innnings and struck out 10 for the win. Antonio Corria was 2 for 3 for the Yellow Jackets.

Dobbs Ferry 12, Gorton 2: At Dobbs Ferry, Eddie Rich went 3 for 4 with a double, two RBI and two runs. Rich finished the season with a .570 batting average. Jesse Silberfein went 1 for 3 with two RBI and one run. Matt Fata went five innings and struck out four for the win. Dobbs Ferry’s final record stands at 12-7.

Saunders 5, Pelham 4: At Pelham, winning pitcher Louis Dariano had a soft line drive to right field to score Jake Diaz from second to win it for the Blue Devils. Robert Liptak had a double and two RBI.

Pelham 2, Edgemont 1, 8: At Pelham Friday, Dylan Tuttle had the game-winning base hit up the middle for the Pelicans in the bottom of the eighth inning. Teammate Anthony Senerchia took the win allowing striking out eight and allowing five hits. Nick Pottenger scored the run for the Panthers in the top of the third.

Pleasantville 21, Nanuet 2: At Nanuet, Nick Greto went 4 for 4 with three home runs and eight RBI. Steven Sicignano went 2 for 5 with a triple and three RBI.

North Rockland 12, East Ramapo 5: At East Ramapo, Joe Anselmi went 1 for 3 with two runs and three RBI. Alan Maldanado went 1 for 3 with two runs and two RBI.

Westlake 6, Irvington 4: At Westlake, Christopher Gorman went 2 for 3 with two RBI. Winning pitcher Michael Cerrato struck out one. Trevor Gaebler went 1 for 4 with a run and an RBI for Irvington.

Stepinac 15, Mount St. Michael 2: At Stepinac, James Decker pitched six innings and got the win. Danny Hoffer was 4 for 4.

Kennedy 7, New Rochelle 4: In the first round of the RC Ketcham Tournament, Erik Bauer went 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run. John Brabazon went 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI. Brian Kelly went five innnings and struck out five to earn the win. Bauer had the save. Jayson Gray went 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBI for the Huguenots.

Tappan Zee 1, Albertus Magnus 0: At Albertus Magnus, winning pitcher Mike Woulf did not give up a hit in five innings. Tim Edhert went 0 for 2 with two walks and a run. Jeremy Dobbs and Matt Scherf each went 2 for 3. James Gizzi went 1 for 3 for the Falcons.

Bronxville 21, Lincoln 1, 5: At Lincoln, Jackson Conway went 2 for 2 with a three-run home run. Christian Conway went 3 for 3 with a double, two RBI and five runs. Jack Braunmuller struck out four in the complete game win. Carlos Bobadilla had a solo home run for the Lancers.

Albertus Magnus 5, Nanuet 2: At Albertus Magnus, James Gizzi went 2 for 3 with a home run, two runs and two RBI. Matt Dale pitched a complete game and struck out six. Brandon Strathy went 1 for 3 with an RBI for the Golden Knights.

Yonkers 13, Woodlands 0: At Yonkers, Alex Gallinari went 2 for 3 with a triple and had three RBI. Nick Casiano went 2 for 3 and had three RBI.

Rye Country Day 2, Riverdale 1: In the first round of the NYSAIS tournament at Hackley, Andrew Starker scored the winning run on an error against No. 3 Riverdale. Andrew Waite pitched 6 1/3 innings to earn the win for No. 6 RCDS. The Wildcats will play No. 2 Fieldston in the semifinals at 11 a.m. today at Purchase College.

Carmel 9, Clarkstown South 5: At Carmel, Brett Viola pitched four innings and had two RBI. Jason Finney went 3 for 4 with three RBI.

Putnam Valley 10, Pawling 3: At Putnam Valley, Rick Ortiz went 3 for 3 with a home run and four RBI.

Yorktown 17, Valhalla 5: At Valhalla, Zach Bocian went 2 for 4 with a double, five RBI and three runs. Brian Redahan was 3 for 5 with two RBI and one run. Nithin Santhanam went five innnings and struck out three for the win. Joe Lovecchio went 2 for 3 with one RBI and one run for the Vikings.

Valhalla 4, Keio 1: At Valhalla, Justin Cassinelli went 1 for 3 with two RBI. Joe Lovecchio went 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run. Ben Scher struck out six in the complete game win. Yuya Morita went 1 for 4 with an RBI for the Unicorns.

Arlington 7, Suffern 3: At Arlington, Anthony Vinelli went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI for the Mounties. Chris Gragnani was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run.

Riverside 14, Palisade Prep 0: Felix Fermin pitched a no-hitter and struck out 14. Fermin also went 2 for 2 with three RBI, a run, and two walks. Andre Payano went 3 for 4 with three runs, two RBI, a double, and a walk.

Croton-Harmon 10, Hamilton 0: At Croton-Harmon, winning pitcher Christian Doughty struck out eight in three innings and went 2 for 3 with two RBI, a double, and a run. Dennis Traditi went 1 for 4 with three RBI and a triple. Allan Robies went 1 for 2 for Hamilton.

Ardsley 11, Irvington 1

Ketcham 5, Rye 4, 8

Lakeland 5, Lourdes 3

Arlington 8, Somers 6

New Ro 16, Rye 4

It’s going to be a hectic day, to say the least. Many teams are playing doubleheaders today, with some playing at two separate locations. I’m going to be at the Mahopac tourney, which will include Fox Lane, John Jay, Panas and Mahopac (obviously). I’ll be scoring the championship game, but I’ll tweet updates on as much as I can throughout the day.

Follow me on Twitter @vzmercogliano, and here’s how to access my live gamecast on iScore:

Viewer URL – http://iscorecast.com
Customer ID – 1E4DA8FF56

I also wanted to share this week’s baseball notebook, which highlights the 42-year career of Hen Hud coach Paul Natale. Natale will be retiring at the conclusion of season, and he will be honored with a pregame ceremony before today’s game against John Jay-EF.

Here is the schedule for Saturday. My picks for today, as always, are in bold.

Nanuet at Albertus Magnus, 9 a.m.
Woodlands vs. Yonkers at Sullivan Oval, 9:30 a.m.
Croton-Harmon at Carmel, 10 a.m.
Keio at Valhalla, 11 a.m.
Lakeland vs. Lourdes at Stitzel Field, 11 a.m.
Irvington at Ardsley, 11 a.m.
Gorton at Dobbs Ferry, 11 a.m.
Clarkstown North at Monroe-Woodbury, 11 a.m.
Pearl River at Scarsdale, 11 a.m.
Tappan Zee at Albertus Magnus, noon
Lincoln vs. Bronxville at Scout Field, noon
John Jay-EF vs. Hen Hud, noon
Suffern vs. Arlington at Dutchess Stadium, noon
Palisade Prep vs. Riverside at Sullivan Oval, 1 p.m.
Saunders vs. Pelham at Glover Field, 2 p.m.
Clarkstown South at Carmel, 2 p.m.
Hamilton at Croton-Harmon, 3 p.m.
Gorton at Sleepy Hollow, 4 p.m.
Arlington at Somers, 4:30 p.m.
Mahopac Tournament
First round (at Mahopac Falls Field)
Panas vs. John Jay, 11 a.m.
Fox Lane vs. Mahopac, 11 a.m.
Consolation game, 2:30 p.m.
Championship game, 2:30 p.m. (Pick: Fox Lane)
Ketcham Tournament
First round (at RC Ketcham HS)
New Ro vs. Kennedy, 10:15 a.m.
Rye vs. Ketcham, 1 p.m.
Consolation game, 4:45 p.m. (at Dutchess Stadium)
Championship game, 7:30 p.m. (at Dutchess Stadium) (Pick: New Ro)
NYSAIS Championship Tournament
First round (at Hackley)
No. 6 Rye Country Day vs. No. 3 Riverdale, 11 a.m.

Masters 14, Harvey 13: At Masters, Jason Ecker and Will Schubert each had three hits, three runs and two RBI for the Cavaliers. Corey Eisenband and Mikhyle Stein each added three hits.

Somers 10, John Jay 2: At John Jay, AJ Tisi went 2 for 3 with four RBI. Evan O’Connor and Kyle Ogren each had an RBI for the Indians.

Poughkeepsie 5, Putnam Valley 4, 8: At Putnam Valley, John Meagle went 2 for 3 with two RBI and a double.

Horace Greeley 9, Scarsdale 8: At Horace Greeley, the Quakers scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh for the come-from-behind win. Andres Larramendi homered and drove in three runs and Matt Re drove in two runs. Re also struck out two batters in three innings for the win. Jimmy Hoofnagle homered and drove in two runs for the Raiders.

Ossining 11, Croton-Harmon 8: At Croton-Harmon, winning pitcher Sean Trenholm struck out seven and went 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs. Jon Circosta went 1 for 3 with two runs, two RBI, and a walk. Brian Oliver went 2 for 3 with two RBI and a run for the Tigers.

Briarcliff 10, Pleasantville 4: At Briarcliff, Jackson Plimpton went 1 for 4 with a run and three RBI. Winning pitcher Joe Karlik struck out six and went 1 for 3 with two runs and an RBI. Anthony Godine went 1 for 2 with an RBI for Pleasantville.

Riverside 6, Tuckahoe 3: At Riverside, winning pitcher Steven Moran struck out nine batters and drove in two runs at the plate. Teammates Khalif Mason and Andre Payano each had three hits and two RBI. Losing pitcher Brian O’Toole struck out six and had two RBI.

Carmel 3, John Jay 2: George Howell went 2 for 3, driving in both of the Patriots’ runs, but John Jay fell at Fishkill’s Dutchess Stadium.

Carmel plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on a bases-loaded walk by Sal Gadero and a sacrifice fly by Cody Nery.

John Jay pitcher Tyler Kardas struck out three and walked two over 3 1/3 innings. Reliever Jon Repetto struck out three and walked two over 3 1/3 innings.

“It was a pitchers’ duel,” John Jay coach Tom O’Hare said. “We had four hits and they had five, which isn’t a lot for two high-powered offenses. Both team’s pitching staffs did a good job.”

A.J. Martucci allowed two runs on four hits in a complete-game performance for Carmel.

Tappan Zee 8, Pearl River 3

Lakeland 2, Kennedy 0

Roosevelt 5, Gorton 5

Carmel 5, Yorktown 4, 8: At Renegades Stadium, Ryan Dougherty delivered a walkoff hit in the bottom of the eight. Giorgio Palmiero pitched eight innings for the win.

With the regular season coming to an end, I’m releasing my final edition of the LoHud Power Rankings. This should give everyone an idea of who the most dominating teams were in the regular season and who the favorites are in each class. Of course, it’s doubtful that sectionals will play out this way, but these rankings reflect the teams that I feel have put together the strongest resumes with just three days remaining before the seeding meeting.

We have a few teams that have faded a bit after strong starts, and others that are making late charges. Momentum can be crucial going into the playoffs, but then again, momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. There is no clear-cut favorite in any class at this point, as evident by Briarcliff’s recent losses. I have a feeling that sectionals are going to be full of surprises.

Same drill for these as the previous rankings that I’ve done. I’ll start with the top 10 overall, and then move onto class-by-class rankings. On Sunday, I’ll post my seeding projections for sectionals, which will certainly look much different than these rankings. These are based more on my own personal opinions (and those of various coaches and scouts who I’ve spoken with), as opposed to overall records and things of that nature.

Here we go…

Top 10 Overall

1. RC Ketcham (14-4) – It’s difficult to argue against the Indians’ claim to the top spot after they took two of three from JJEF, including both league meetings. RCK is beatable – as proven by JJEF, Kennedy and Arlington (who split with RCK this season) – but they have the best player in the section in Seth Lamando and an excellent No. 2 starter in Matt Todd. The defending Class AA champs enter the postseason as the team to beat. (Previous rank: 2)


2. John Jay-EF (14-3) – The Patriots may have lost the top spot to RCK, but they have quality wins across the board. JJEF has been one of the most consistent teams in the section with wins over Mamaroneck, Mahopac, Suffern, North Rockland, Kennedy, Yorktown and Arlington (twice). While RCK will rely on some top-notch pitchers, the Patriots can flat out mash. They have nine wins in which they scored 10 or more runs. (PR: 1)


3. Kennedy (13-4) – With wins over RCK, Mamaroneck and Arlington, the Gaels have shown that they can play with anyone in the section. They haven’t lost in nearly a month, and feature a three-man rotation that is as good as any in the section with Erik Bauer, Schuyler Bates and Oscar Giret. They look like the favorite in Class A. (PR: 6)


4. Mamaroneck (15-5) – The Tigers scheduled two very tough non-league games against JJEF and Kennedy to test themselves late in the season, but missed out on a chance to jump up in the rankings due to two losses. Mamaroneck did take care of business by sweeping a very tough New Ro club to claim yet another league title, and are still a team on everyone’s radar entering the postseason. Parker Thelander’s no-hitter the other day proved that the Tigers have the pitching depth to make a run along with Michael Williams and Will Hofmann. (PR: 3)


5. Iona Prep (17-8) – The Gaels have won six in a row, including avenging early season losses to Fordham Prep and Stepinac . They’ll tie Fordham for the league title and play a one-game tiebreaker if Fordham loses to Cardinal Spellman today. Things seem to finally be coming together for Iona after entering the season with such high expectations. (PR: Not ranked)


6. Suffern (14-4) – The Mounties may be the hottest team in Section 1 after last night’s win over North Rockland locked up a league title and made it 10 straight wins. Since a 1-0 loss to Carmel on April 25, the Suffern bats have awoken to support a great defense and solid pitching staff. The Mounties went 8-0 in a league that features North Rockland and both Clarkstowns, and also recently beat a Columbia team that knocked off Mamaroneck. (PR: NR)


7. Fox Lane (13-5) – As shaky as the start to the Foxes’ season may have appeared to be, they certainly have rebounded to post a very good record. If you look at their five losses, all of them have come against excellent pitching – RCK’s Lamando, Harrison’s Max Bruckner, Rye’s Willis Robbins, Briarcliff’s Spencer Kulman and that absolute stud from Don Bosco. Unless you have a guy of that caliber, you don’t want to face this lineup, which has put up 53 runs in its last four games. (PR: 7)


8. North Rockland (14-5) – Back-to-back losses to Suffern definitely hurt the Red Raiders, but anyone will tell you that both of those games were very closely contested. James Veltidi proved again last night that he can be a very nice complement to ace Joe Anselmi, and this lineup can be dangerous. No. 9 hitter Xavier Reyes got two hits off of one of the best pitchers in the section in Dom Kulbaba last night, and the 3-4-5 middle portion of the order with Elbin Martinez, Wardy Polanco and Anselmi can be lethal. (PR: 8 )


9. New Rochelle (14-3) – This really felt like the year that the Huguenots might be able to steal a game away from archrival Mamaroneck, but despite coming ever so close, New Ro once again came up short. I said after those games that I believe the Huguenots have closed the talent gap, and look like one of the more well-rounded teams in the section. Andrew Zigmont, John Valente and Bruno Giordano each have at least three wins, providing New Ro the pitching depth it will need to make a run. (PR: 9)


10. Arlington (13-9) – While the Admirals’ overall record isn’t as strong as the rest of the teams in the top 10, the quality of some of their wins prove that they may belong even higher. Wins over Mahopac, Carmel and Beacon kept those teams out of this spot, and Arlington is also one of the few teams with a win over top-ranked RCK. The Admirals have won six of their last eight and seem to be improving as we enter postseason play. (PR: 10)

Class AA
1. RCK (14-4) PR: 2
2. JJEF (14-3) PR: 1
3. Mamaroneck (15-5) PR: 3
4. Suffern (14-4) PR: 10
5. Fox Lane (13-5) PR: 5
6. North Rockland (15-4) PR: 6
7. New Ro (14-3) PR: 7
8. Arlington (13-9) PR: 8
9. Mahopac (12-5-1) PR: 4
10. Carmel (11-4-1) PR: 9
On the fringe: Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, Yorktown.
NOTES: As I explained above, RCK overtakes JJEF after taking two of three from the Patriots… Suffern jumps to No. 4 thanks to a 10-game winning streak, which included two wins over North Rockland… Fox Lane has won seven of its last eight, and also has a win over North Rockland… New Ro is sort of the great unknown entering sectionals. They only team they’ve played in the top 10 is Mamo, but I’ve been very impressed with them. They do have quality wins over Pearl River and John Jay… Arlington has wins over Mahopac and Carmel, which is why the Admirals are ahead of both teams… Mahopac has struggled since it hit the difficult portion of its schedule, dropping five of its last six games, and four in a row. The Indians lost to each of the Dutchess Big Three… With two wins over Carmel, I had to keep Mahopac ahead of the Rams… Class AA is deep and wide open. I could make a case for any team in the top 10 to win the section, and you can throw Yorktown in that mix as well.

Class A
1. JFK (13-4) PR: 1
2. Harrison (15-4) PR: 3
3. Beacon (12-6) PR: 2
4. Pearl River (12-6) PR: 4
5. Somers (11-5-1) PR: 8
6. Lakeland (10-8) PR: NR
7. Tappan Zee (10-8) PR: 6
8. Byram Hills (12-8) PR: 7
9. Rye (10-8) PR: 10
10. Yonkers (17-1) PR: NR
On the fringe: Ardsley, John Jay, Sleepy Hollow.
NOTES: I think at this point we have a pretty clear top five, and then there’s about 10 teams that you could make the case for after that… With all of the quality wins and pitching depth that Kennedy has, they seem to be the team that coaches are talking about as the favorite… Harrison would be my next pick because they have a great threesome of Max Bruckner, Mike Forgione and Luke Sassano leading their rotation… Beacon has proven that they can beat anyone, but I’m not so sure about the pitching beyond ace Tony Romanelli… Pearl River is sort of the wild card here. They’ve beaten TZ twice to establish themselves as the best Class A school in Rockland, but they do have a loss to Beacon… Somers was the favorite coming into the season, and the Tuskers have been on a nice roll of late. They’ve won five straight, including convincing wins over John Jay and Mahopac. With No. 2 starter Mike Millman back, they have three capable starters with JT Genovese and Sam Bird… While I think there are plenty of teams that could make a case for the sixth spot, I’m going with a Lakeland team that seems to be growing before our eyes. They played JFK close in a 3-2 loss, and were very sharp when I saw them beat John Jay… TZ has been scuffling a bit at the plate, but the defending champs do have a win over Byram and have played a tough schedule… Byram and Rye split this week, and look to be very evenly matched. Both teams can beat anyone when they have their aces on the mound… Say what you will about Yonkers’ schedule, but they’ve gone on a tear since suffering a loss to Riverside, beating opponents by an average of 10 runs. Getting ace Nick DeMarco back is a huge boost going into the playoffs.

Class B/C
1. Briarcliff (15-4) PR: 1
2. Keio (12-5) PR: 2
3. Pleasantville (11-6) PR: 8
4. Irvington (12-6) PR: 6
5. Dobbs Ferry (10-7) PR: 4
6. Haldane (14-3) PR: 3
7. Bronxville (12-5-1) PR: NR
8. Albertus Magnus (7-9) PR: 5
9. Rye Neck (7-11) PR: NR
10. Valhalla (7-9) PR: 7
On the fringe: North Salem, Putnam Valley, Tuckahoe.
NOTES: Despite recent losses to each of the team’s ranked behind them, I’m keeping Briarcliff at No. 1 for a few reasons. For starters, I still firmly believe that the Bears have the deepest team in Class B. And if you look at the losses to Keio and Pleasantville, both of those teams threw their aces. Briarcliff didn’t use any of their top three starters against Keio, although Spencer Kulman did take the loss against P-ville. Those losses certainly prove that the Bears are beatable and not as heavy of a favorite as we once thought they were, but I still have to keep them at No. 1… Keio has been on an incredible roll, winning nine of its last 10, including wins over Briarcliff and Pleasantville… Outside of the top three, Irvington is another team that has really emerged since getting healthy. They were on a seven-game winning streak before yesterday’s loss to Ardsley… Dobbs cooled down a bit after a hot start, but I still can’t see taking them out of the top five… Haldane was grounded when it hit the difficult portion of its schedule with losses to Lakeland, Rye and Beacon, but the Blue Devils look like the clear favorite in Class C… Bronxville has forced itself into the top 10 thanks to 10 wins in its last 12 games, including two over league rival Pelham. The Broncos seem to be peaking at the right time… The bottom three in the top 10 all have losing records, but have all played brutal schedules for Class B teams… I kept Magnus ahead of Rye Neck because of a head-to-head win, but the Panthers have been playing extremely well. After starting the year with seven straight losses, Rye Neck has won six of its last seven, including wins over Dobbs Ferry, Keio and Valhalla.

Our photographer Xavier Mascareñas got some great shots of the controversial call at third in Suffern’s 3-1 win over North Rockland last night at Provident Bank Park. If the out was made, it would have ended the third inning and held the Mounties to just one run—rather than the three that they ended up scoring.

The throw beat Suffern’s Jesse Galina to the bag, as evident by the photo above with the ball in North Rockland 3B Mike Rastelli’s glove before Galina even got into his slide. But the photo below shows no contact between Rastelli’s glove and Galina. The shot could have come after the swipe tag was made, but it the glove appears to be off by a few centimeters. From my perspective in the press box, I could have sworn that Galina was out, but these pictures seem to tell a different story.

I’ll be at Yankee Stadium today, but I’ll post my new Power Rankings sometime this afternoon.

Here is the schedule for Friday, with my picks in bold.

Carmel vs. John Jay-EF at Renegades Stadium, 1:30 p.m.
Palisade Prep at Woodlands, 3:15 p.m.
Tappan Zee at Pearl River, 4 p.m.
East Ramapo at North Rockland, 4 p.m.
Roosevelt vs. Gorton at Fleming Field, 4 p.m.
Clarkstown North at non-region opponent, 4:15 p.m.
Blind Brook at Rye Neck, 4:30 p.m.
Valhalla at Hamilton, 4;30 p.m.
Ossining at Croton-Harmon, 4:30 p.m.
Pleasantville at Briarcliff, 4:30 p.m.
Harrison at Port Chester, 4:30 p.m.
North Salem at Pawling, 4:30 p.m.
Lakeland at Kennedy, 4:30 p.m.
Poughkeepsie at Putnam Valley, 4:30 p.m.
Tuckahoe vs. Riverside at Parkway Oval, 4:30 p.m.
White Plains vs. New Ro at Davis Elementary School, 4:30 p.m.
Dobbs Ferry at Hastings, 4:30 p.m.
Ardsley at Sleepy Hollow, 4:30 p.m.
Irvington at Westlake, 4:30 p.m.
Scarsdale at Greeley, 4:30 p.m.
Somers at John Jay, 4:30 p.m.
Yorktown vs. Carmel at Renegades Stadium, 6:45 p.m.
Edgemont vs. Pelham at Glover Field, 7 p.m.
Yonkers at Nyack, 7 p.m.
Beacon at Panas, 7:30 p.m.

I don’t have time for my usual postgame recap because I’m getting the boot from Provident Bank Park, but Suffern is really on some roll. The Mounties have rattled off 10 wins in a row since a rough start to the season, and Thursday’s 3-1 win over North Rockland improved them to 8-0 in their league and clinched the title. As expected, Suffern starter Dom Kulbaba was extremely effective, but North Rockland starter James Veltidi pitched a solid game in his own right. All of the scoring came in the third, with a very close call at 3B extending the inning after the Mounties had taken a 1-0 lead. That allowed them to plate two more runs, which turned out to be the difference in the game.

Since I don’t have time to write a full recap, I’ll give you all a look ahead at my game story, which will appear in tomorrow’s paper:

RAMAPO After dropping to 4-4 on the season, the Suffern players called a meeting to discuss how this proud program could right the ship.

“We faced a lot of good teams in the beginning of the year,” ace pitcher Dom Kulbaba said. “We sat down after our fourth loss and said, ‘We have to turn this around.’ ”

The message apparently sunk in, because the Mounties have reeled off 10 straight wins since that day. A 3-1 win over archrival North Rockland on Thursday night under the lights at Provident Bank Park clinched a league title for Suffern.

The win was even more special because it came in the third annual Vincent Crotty and Chris Konskowski Memorial Game – a wood bat contest in honor of two former Suffern baseball players who tragically died in a car crash in March 2010.

“They’re a tough lineup,” Suffern coach Ron Gamma said. “To beat them two days in a row is off the charts.”

After squeaking out a 5-4 win over the Red Raiders on Wednesday, the Mounties (14-4) sent Kulbaba to the mound on the Thursday. The reigning Journal News Rockland Player of the Year was his usual dominating self, allowing just one earned run and five hits while striking out six in a complete game effort.

“I was trying to get ahead and throw the slow curve,” Kulbaba said. “They gear up for the fastball, so I wanted to use my offspeed stuff.”

Bad fortune doomed North Rockland (15-4) in the top of the third. A.J. Fishberg led off with a double to right-center field, eventually scoring on Jesse Galina’s RBI single. After Chris Gragnani walked, Kulbaba flew out to center field. Galina tagged up in an attempt to advance to third, but appeared to be beat by the throw. He was called safe on a controversial play that could have ended the inning, but instead runners were left on second and third.

“My player said he tagged him,” North Rockland coach Tom Lynch said. “I hope (the umpire) had it right, because it changed the game.”

The next batter up was Anthony Vinelli, who hit a grounder to second base that took an odd hop and found its way into right field. Galina and Gragnani scored, which gave Kulbaba a 3-0 cushion.

The Red Raiders got a run back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from Xavier Reyes, but Kulbaba shut it down from there. He didn’t allow a runner to get past second base after the third inning.

“I thought early on we were putting the ball in play,” Lynch said. “But once he found his groove he was unhittable at the end.”

North Rockland starter James Veltidi also gave his team a complete game effort, showing some resiliency after a tough third inning. He only allowed one earned run on five hits and four walks while striking out seven.

Here are the rest of the results from Thursday:

Eastchester 4, Saunders 2: At Saunders, P.J. Mariani and Hajime Ozawa both went 2 for 4 with a run. Marc Medico struck out 10 in the complete game win. Edgar Santana went 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI for the Blue Devils.

Tuckahoe 12, Palisade Prep 0, 5: At Tuckahoe, Nick Pregiato allowed one hit and struck out nine in five innings pitched. Brian O’Toole went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI and Aaron Traeger went 2 for 3 with two RBI. Justin Rivera had the only hit for Palisade Prep, which came in the first inning.

Pearl River 1, Nanuet 0: At Nanuet, Pearl River clinched the Conference 4 League B title after pinch-hitter Tom Higgins drove home John Doherty with two outs in the seventh innings. Brendan Ryan pitched a complete-game one-hitter and struck out 13. Ben Bohlke went 1 for 2 for Nanuet.

Keio 4, Valhalla 0: At Keio, Takumi Yokoyama pitched a three-hitter, struck out 12 and allowed a walk for the win. Kento Suga went 2 for 2 with a double, a walk and an RBI. Matt Cassinelli had two hits for the Vikings.

Nyack 10, East Ramapo 3: At East Ramapo, Brendan O’Sullivan went 1 for 4 with two runs, two RBI, and a walk. Will Pietralin had a pinch-hit solo home run. Sacha Urbach went 2 for 3 with two RBI for East Ramapo.

Tuckahoe 7, Solomon Schechter 2: At Solomon Schechter Wednesday, LJ Gallo struck out thirteen and gave up six hits in a complete game victory, and Mike Arbone had a home run. Craig Rothenberg went 2 for 3 with an RBI for the Lions.

Ardsley 12, Irvington 8: At Irvington, wining pitcher Adam Deangelo went 3 for 5 with three RBI and three runs. Alec Eisenberg went 4 for 5 with four doubles, four RBI, and a run. Dan Stein went 2 for 4 with a home run, a double, three runs, and three RBI. Ben Liberatore went 1 for 3 with three RBI, a double, a run, and a walk for the Bulldogs.

Rye 9, Byram Hills 3: At Byram Hills, Tim DeGraw went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI, and Jeff Dempsey struck out seven in a complete game. Chris Lattarulo had a home run and two RBI for the Bobcats.

Kennedy 8, James Monroe 6: At James Monroe, Joe Drpich went 2 for 4 with a three-run home run. Jason Agresti went 2 for 4 with two RBI and two runs. Matt Kern pitched five innings and struck out five to earn the win. Erik Bauer picked up the save.

New Rochelle 5, White Plains 4: At White Plains, Chris Elefante went 2 for 4 with two RBI. Winning pitcher John Valente pitched a complete game and struck out seven. Sean Johnson went 2 for 3 with two doubles and two RBI for the Tigers.

Beacon 5, Hen Hud 0: At Hen Hud, J.P. Pandy went 1 for 2 and Matt Solnik went 1 for 3.

Riverside 10, Woodlands 3: At Fleming Field in Yonkers, Junior Silverio pitched a three-hitter and struck out 13 allowing one walk for the Rams. John Rodriguez went 2 for 4 and had two RBI. Justin Riccio had a three-run home run in the top of the first inning for the Falcons.

Somers 3, Mahopac 0: At Somers, J.T. Genovese pitched a complete game, giving up six hits and striking out three, and Joe Tomasulo went 2 for 3 with a double and RBI. Elliot Haight went 2 for 3 for the Indians.

Edgemont 1, Pelham 0: At Edgemont, Adam Meyerson scored the only run of the game on a passed ball with two outs in the bottom of the second inning. Matt Browne pitched a complete game three-hitter and didn’t allow a walk. David Wright pitched six innings and allowed five hits for the Pelicans.

Sleepy Hollow 14, Roosevelt 0: At Sleepy Hollow, Peter Pena went 2 for 3 with two home runs and four RBI. Winning pitcher Inmer Rosado allowed three walks in six innings and struck out 15.

Carmel 3, John Jay 0: At Carmel, Ryan Dougherty had a hit and two RBI and Mike Palmiero had an RBI. Easton Obojokovits pitched a complete game and struck out four. Evan O’Connor pitched six innings and struck out six for the Indians.

Lakeland 4, Brewster 1: At Lakeland, Andrew Martinez went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Anthony Fava went 3 for 3 with a run. Michael Nash struck out three in the complete game win. James Cundari went 1 for 2 for the Bears.

Briarcliff 19, Croton-Harmon 4: At Croton-Harmon, Jackson Plimpton went 3 for 3 with thee runs, two RBI, and a walk. Colin Orr went 3 for 5 with two RBI and two runs. Mike Hrycko went 2 for 2 with a double and two RBI for the Tigers.

Fox Lane 12, Horace Greeley 3:At Greeley, Matt Oniffrey went 3 for 5 with a home run and five RBI, and Dion Austrie went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI. Leo Wolfensohn had two RBI for the Quackers.

Tappan Zee 6, Albertus Magnus 1: At Tappan Zee, TJ Hart gave up four hits and struck out 11 in a complete game win, and Brendan Kraemer went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBI.

Since the game I’m covering today (Suffern-North Rockland at Provident Bank Park) doesn’t start until 6:30 p.m., I thought I’d take some time to give everyone an idea of what to look for in the coming weeks. Sunday is the last day of the regular season, and we’ve got plenty of exciting material to look forward to.

For starters, I’ll be releasing my final Power Rankings of the regular season tomorrow. With a heavy slate of games to be played today, there still could be a few teams that force my hand with big wins. I’ll finalize everything in the morning and have them posted by early afternoon. These rankings will be a good indication of who I believe the biggest threats will be in sectionals next week.

On Saturday I’ll be covering the Mahopac tournament (featuring Fox Lane, John Jay, Panas and Mahopac), and on Sunday I’ll be releasing my seeding projections. I’ll do my best to crunch the numbers and give you my best estimate on where teams will fall in line when the playoff seeds are determined on Monday. It goes without saying that playoff positioning will be crucial.

The seeding meeting will be held on Monday morning, and I’ll post all of the seeds as soon as I get my hands on them. I’ll be hosting a live chat that night at 7 p.m., which should certainly be our busiest chat of the season. By Tuesday morning, I’ll post my full predictions for each class (possibly sooner).

Here is the full playoff schedule for sectionals. Including outbracket games, teams could potentially play four games in five days, which means that pitching depth will be a major factor in determining a champion:

Tuesday, May 22—Outbracket round for all classes (at higher seed)
Wednesday, May 23—First round for all classes (at higher seed)
Thursday, May 24—Quarterfinals for all classes (at higher seed)
Saturday, May 26 —Semifinals for all classes (at higher seed)
Tuesday, May 29—Finals for Class C (4 p.m.) and Class B (7 p.m.) at Dutchess Stadium
Wednesday, May 30—Finals for Class A (4 p.m.) and Class AA (7 p.m.) at Dutchess Stadium

I’ll be at Provident Bank Park tonight to see Suffern vying for a league title against arch-rival North Rockland. The Mounties stole one yesterday with North Rockland ace Joe Anselmi on the mound, and now have their own ace Dom Kulbaba ready to go for the clincher. The Red Raiders should counter with RHP James Veltidi.

I’ve covered Rockland Boulders games in this park, and it’s a pretty neat place to play. It’s kind of quirky—alley way with a high wall in CF, short porch in RF—but I think it should make for a fun game.

Follow me on Twitter @vzmercogliano for updates, and here’s how to access my live gamecast on iScore:

Viewer URL – http://iscorecast.com
Customer ID – 1E4DA8FF56

Here is the full schedule fof Thursday, with my picks in bold:

Eastchester at Saunders, 3:45 p.m.
Albertus Magnus at Tappan Zee, 4 p.m.
Woodlands vs. Riverside at Fleming Field, 4 p.m.
Dobbs Ferry vs. Gorton at Fleming Field, 4 p.m.
Nyack vs. East Ramapo at Spring Valley, 4:15 p.m.
Pearl River at Nanuet, 4:30 p.m.
Valhalla vs. Keio at Manhattanville College, 4:30 p.m.
Briarcliff at Croton-Harmon, 4:30 p.m.
Fox Lane at Greeley, 4:30 p.m.
Rye at Byram Hills, 4:30 p.m.
Pawling at Haldane, 4:30 p.m.
Mahopac at Somers, 4:30 p.m.
John Jay at Carmel, 4:30 p.m.
Beacon at Hen Hud, 4:30 p.m.
Panas vs. Peekskill at Peekskill Stadium, 4:30 p.m.
Pelham at Edgemont, 4:30 p.m.
Palisade Prep at Tuckahoe, 4:30 p.m.
New Ro at White Plains, 4:30 p.m.
Mamaroneck at Mount Vernon, 4:30 p.m.
Ardsley at Irvington, 4:30 p.m.
Roosevelt at Sleepy Hollow, 4:30 p.m.
Lincoln at Bronxville, 4:30 p.m.
Ketcham at Clarkstown South, 4:30 p.m.
Kennedy at non-region opponent, 4:30 p.m.
Putnam Valley vs. Poughkeepsie at Dutchess Stadium, 4:30 p.m.
Brewster at Lakeland, 6 p.m.
Suffern vs. North Rockland at Provident Bank Park, 6:30 p.m.

Byram Hills’ 3-2 win over Rye on Wednesday was exactly the kind of baseball game that I love to see. It featured two ace pitchers at their best, timely hitting and tense late-game situations. Bobcats ace Andrew Slosberg got the better of the Garnets’ No. 1 starter Willis Robbins, but both were outstanding for stretches. Both pitched complete games, with Slosberg striking out seven while allowing five hits, and Robbins whiffing 10 while allowing just three hits.

“Every pitch you have the butterflies and every pitch you have the excitement,” Byram Hills coach Scott Saunders said. “We tell our guys – and I’m sure they tell their guys the same thing – these are the games that you sign up for. This is why you play high school sports, and today certainly proved that.”

The first few innings breezed by, with neither team picking up a hit until Tim DeGraw’s two-out, RBI double in the bottom of the third gave Rye a 1-0 lead. Griffin Tutun followed with an RBI single and the Garnets were up 2-0.

With the way that Robbins was throwing, two runs felt like a comfortable margin for Rye. While the flame-throwing right-hander had bouts of wildness in the first, he settled in nicely and had not allowed a hit entering the fourth. He has some filthy stuff and is one of the most unhittable pitchers in the section when he’s on.

“That’s the type of guy where you know that he’s going to try to come after you with the fastball,” Saunders said. “You have to stay short, stay compact and not try to do too much. With a quality team like that, you have to put the ball in play and hope that good things happen.”

As is usually the case with Robbins, when he issues walks is when he can get himself in trouble. After walking Slosberg in the top of fourth, he came up with a big strikeout of Chris Lattarulo for the second out of the inning. But another walk to Anthony Arditi left the door open for Jack Hathaway.

Hathaway laced an RBI single—the first hit of the game allowed by Robbins—and Henry Milano followed with a two-run double to give the Byram a 3-2 lead. Milano was sitting on the fastball, and he did a great job of jumping on the first pitch. He smoked a ball to dead center that got over the CF’s head and reached the base of the wall.

“We have to mix it up there,” Rye coach Mike Bruno said, acknowledging that they gave Milano a heater right down the middle. “You want to have a shutdown inning (after taking the lead). You want to go 1-2-3. I truly believe that if he gets through that inning, he probably shuts them out. Tip your cap to them, they put the ball in play and got the runs when they needed them.”

That would be the extent of the offense for either team. The scoring happened quickly, and then each pitcher got back to doing their thing. In my eyes, these have to be two of the better pitchers in Class A. Both of these teams figure to be seeded in the 7-12 range, but on any day that either one of these guys is pitching, their teams have a great chance to win.

“It’s tense, but those are the moments that you pitch for,” Slosberg said of going up against Robbins. “Those are the moments that you want to come up big and show them what you’ve got.”

Robbins probably has better pure stuff than Slosberg, but Slosberg displayed better command. Slosberg threw 74 strikes on 114 pitches, while Robbins threw 63 strikes on 103 pitches.

“Getting his breaking ball over for a strike was key,” Bruno said of Slosberg. “And then in terms of bouncing it when he wanted to, his command impressed me. He threw a little bit harder than I expected, and I think he’s a great pitcher. He’s going to give anyone who they play a tough out in that first game.”

While Slosberg relied on command of his curveball and a two-seamer that was riding in on righties, Robbins worked mostly with the hard stuff. He had trouble throwing his curve for strikes, but got ahead with the fastball and finished guys off with a nasty slider. In terms of swing-and-miss stuff, not many guys in Section 1 can match him. He also seemed to get stronger as the game went on. After giving up those three runs in the fourth, he allowed one hit and no walks for the next three innings.

The Garnets got a runner on in the bottom of the seventh with one out, and Bruno decided to put the bunt sign on for No. 9 batter Ryan Hale. With two strikes, Bruno kept the bunt sign on, and Hale fouled off his next attempt for the out. Earlier in the game, Rye had success with a two-strike bunt, but not this time around.

With the way that Slosberg was throwing and the top of the order coming up, I can understand Bruno’s decision.

“You could go either way,” he said. “Coach and I were doing signs across, and we just felt that the way the kid was pitching… Our best chance was to try to get him in scoring position for our leadoff hitter, who came in batting .491. … You can second guess it because it didn’t work, but I’d do it again.”

The question for both of these teams in the playoffs will be do they have enough pitching beyond their aces? Both Slosberg and Robbins are now lined up to start in the first round on Wednesday.

“We’ve had three starters all year that we’ve trotted out for the bulk of the games—Andrew being the lead dog in the pack, and then we have Scott Rose and John Norrgard who have pitched outstanding for us in key spots as well,” Saunders said. “Any of those three guys we feel confident with them on the mound… Class A is wide open. Every team is right there at 11-12 wins. All of the leagues are tough and anybody could win it. All of the 27 teams could qualify, so you’ve got a big field.”

Here are all of the results from Wednesday:

Eastchester 9, Saunders 4: At Eastchester, Marc Medico had a home run and five RBI. Joe Boscia and Devin Marone each went 3 for 3 for the Eagles. John Napolitano struck out six in the complete game win. Louis Dariano went 2 for 3 with an RBI for the Blue Devils.

Iona Prep 5, Salesian 1: At Iona Prep, Cody Polchinski went 3 for 3 with an RBI and Dan Fischer and Vinny Martin each went 2 for 3 with an RBI. John Napalitano went 2 for 2 for the Eagles.

Valhalla 19, Hamilton 1, 5: At Valhalla, Matt Cassinelli went 3 for 4 with two home runs and four RBI in a game that was called due to darkness. Joe Lovecchio went 2 for 4 with two doubles and three RBI and Al Corradi went 3 for 4 with four runs scored.

Rye Neck 4, Blind Brook 3: At Blind Brook, Chris Cascione had a triple and two RBI and Chris Pennell went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Teddy Sabato had an RBI triple for the Trojans.

Albertus Magnus 8, O’Neill 6: At Albertus Magnus, Casey Kern went 3 for 4 and had two RBI for the Falcons. He also took the win allowing six earned runs, two walks and struck out five. Mike Sarvis went 3 for 4 and had two RBI.

Pearl River 6, Nanuet 0: At Pearl River, Jordan Mendelson went 2 for 2 with two doubles and three RBI and Kevin Considine pitched a complete game five-hitter. Nick O’Connor went 2 for 4 for the Golden Knights.

Somers 7, John Jay 4: At Somers, Chris Arita went 3 for 4 with two doubles and drove in a run for the Tuskers. Mike Millman took the win allowing four earned runs, a walk, and a strikeout. Tyler Keech went 2 for 4 including a double and had three RBI for the Indians.

Bronxville 6, Pelham 4: At Pelham, Robbie Faselt had two hits and three RBI to help stop the Pelicans’ three-game winning streak. Kevin Reich and Parker Lapins added two hits and an RBI apiece. Dylan Tuttle had two hits and two RBI and David Wright contributed two hits for Pelham.

Suffern 5, North Rockland 4: At Suffern, Jesse Galina hit a line-drive single over the right fielder’s head with the bases loaded to walk-off the game for the Mounties. Winning pitcher A.J. Fishberg also drove in two runs at the plate. Tanner Morales and Nick Connell each went 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Red Raiders. With the win, Suffern clinched at least a share of the league championship. The two will square off again tomorrow at Provident Bank Park in Pomona at 6:30 p.m. in a wood bat contest to determine the league champions.

Keio 4, Westlake 1: At Keio, Riku Kawada went 3 for 3 with an RBI and Masatoschi Watanabe went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Kento Suga pitched a complete game and allowed five hits. Michael Bombace had a hit and an RBI for the Wildcats.

Mamaroneck 16, Mount Vernon 0: At Mamaroneck, Parker Thelander fired his first varsity no-hitter as the Tigers clinched their league title. The senior right-hander struck out 11 and walked one in improving to 4-0. Michael Presley had two hits and four RBI.

Ardsley 4, Hastings 1: At Hastings, Danny Weber drove in the first two runs of the game on a single with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of eighth. Winning pitcher Matt Shear threw seven scoreless innings, allowing six hits. Nick Grasso went 1 for 4 with a triple and the sole run for the Yellow Jackets.

Carmel 8, Brewster 1: At Carmel, Rich Monahan had a hit and three RBI and Sal Gadero went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Winning pitcher Brett Viola allowed two hits with nine strikeouts in six innings pitched.

Fox Lane 20, Horace Greeley 1: At Fox Lane, TJ Hallock went 4 for 4 with four RBI and hit three home runs, including two homers in a 13-run first inning. Drew Fopeano, Jackson Kushner and Richard Slenker each drove in three runs.

Ossining 3, Croton-Harmon 1: At Ossining, Mike Haag struck out 11 in the complete game win and drove in an RBI. Christian Doughty struck out seven in five innings for the loss.

Kennedy 3, Lakeland 2: At Lakeland, Jason Agresti went 3 for 4 and scored the winning run on a hit by John Brabazon. Michael Ennis had a hit and two RBI and Schuyler Bates pitched a complete game and struck out seven. Anthony Fava had a hit and an RBI for Lakeland.

Pleasantville 2, Briarcliff 1: At Pleasantville, coach Bob Jordon earned his 300th career win.

Yorktown 2, North Salem 1: At Yorktown, Ryan Fagan went 2 for 3 with a two-run home run in the fifth inning. Matt Lubitz drove in a run for the Tigers.

Masters 6, Horace Mann 4: At Masters Nicky Langer had two hits and three RBI for the Panthers. Dazian Lazardo had two RBI.