The Blue Jays, a team composed of 15- and 16-year-old former players from the Downtown Little League, completed their third successful season this past weekend, clinching first place in the Greenwich Village (Little League) Senior League and a No. 1 seeding in this weekend’s playoffs.
The Blue Jays, under manager Michael Greenblatt and coach Jeffrey Kay, garnered a record of 11-2 against teams composed of players from the Greenwich Village and Peter Stuyvesant Little Leagues.
On Saturday, the Blue Jays defeated the Vanguards, 11-4. Philip Kay and Eric Coler each contributed two-run doubles and Sam Gilberg anchored the defense by pitching five innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs, and striking out nine batters. The Blue Jays halted a potential rally by the Vanguards in the fourth inning with a great defensive play: center fielder Raymond Perez fielded a ball to the base of the wall and hit his cutoff man, shortstop Pete Barbieri, who threw out the first runner at the plate; the tag was applied by catcher Mark LaGreca, who then fired the ball to third baseman Nick Meuceri, who tagged out the second runner to complete the double play and end the inning.
On Sunday, the Blue Jays jumped to a quick six-run lead over the Niners and won 11-1 with the pitching of Kay, who went four innings allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out six. Corey Greenblatt and LaGreca played good offense with a two-run single and three R.B.I., respectively.
For the season, the Blue Jays outscored their opponents by a total of 129-70. Gilberg led an impressive pitching staff with a 5-0 record and 35 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings pitched. Kay had a 2.51 E.R.A. and struck out 23 batters in 14 innings; Gibbons and Barbieri struck out 21 and 16 batters in 11 and 14 innings, respectively. Overall, Blue Jays pitchers recorded 115 strikes in 80 innings.
Kay led the Blue Jays in almost all offensive categories with 23 hits in 44 at-bats for 20 R.B.I. and a .523 batting average. Meuceri, who hit a home run over the right-centerfield fence at the Murry Bergtraum High School field midway through the season, was 11-for-28 with 14 R.B.I. in 10 games played. Barbieri compiled a .410 average with 16 hits, 12 R.B.I. and 21 runs scored. Perez fueled the Jays’ season-ending 5-game winning streak with four hits in eight at-bats and 10 runs scored.
This Saturday, June 16, the top-seeded Blue Jays play the winner of the “wild card” game between the fourth- and fifth-seeded teams. The winner will play in the championship game this Sunday, June 17.
Junior Minors Upper
Indians vs. Yankees
Eagerly anticipating the rematch against the Indians—the only team to have defeated them thus far—the Yankees began Saturday’s game with promise and tension. Jack Vegas led off the game with the Indians’ first hit and hits by Justin Ho, Jared Beh and Noah Brodsky soon followed. Tucker Rothbart closed the scoring with an R.B.I. ground-out.
The Yankees answered immediately. Ted Eustace blasted a double and was driven in by Ethan Wallis, who was out trying for a triple.
Michael Bogdanos, Tyler Rohan, Marcus Chan and Louis Dannatt each followed with singles, and Ariana Howard’s R.B.I. single ended the inning with the 5-run mercy rule. The Indians were shut down in the second and third innings, thanks to Eustace’s back-handed snag of Benjamin Karam’s pop fly, Bogdanos’ sweep tag at first, and Eva Vignola’s catch at second.
The Yankees, however, added another five runs in the second, despite an excellent defensive play by Jeremiah Wysoker. Vignola led off with a single, followed by Alex Monticciolo’s double. Back in the top of the batting order, Eustace hit an R.B.I. single, Wallis blasted an R.B.I. triple, Bogdanos scorched an R.B.I. double, and clean-up hitter Rohan closed out the scoring with an R.B.I. single, bringing the score to 10-3, Yankees.
The Indians closed the gap in the next two innings. In the fourth, the Indians’ Rothbart reached first on an error and Healy, Karam and Harry Kahn were credited with singles, scoring three runs, while the fifth inning saw singles by Vegas, Ho and Brodsky led to two more. Both innings featured aggressive base-running by the Indians, particularly from third to home. The Yankees responded with Monticciolo’s single, a patented Eustace shot to left, a Wallis single and a two-R.B.I. single by Bogdanos.
The Indians led off the sixth inning with singles from Healy and Karam, and a double by Harry Kahn.
Sammy Kahn’s grounder to first was handily played by Bogdanos, but the Indians kept running hard, and two more runs scored. Archer Engler reached first base on an error, followed by Vegas’s fourth hit of the game.
Wysoker also reached first on an error. Ho then singled, followed by Beh’s R.B.I. ground-out, Brodsky’s double, and Rothbart and Healy singles, which gave the Indians a four-run lead, before Eustace made the long throw to first for the final out. The Yankees fought back in the bottom of the sixth, but came up just short with a final score of Indians 16, Yankees 14.
