Shenendehowa was looking to erase the bitter taste from an extra-inning loss to North Rockland when it showed up for Sunday’s Suburban Council game at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake.
It didn’t take long.
“We definitely wanted to rebound well,” Plainsmen senior Connor Douglas said after a 9-3 victory. “We definitely had a fire in us.”
Shenendehowa scored five runs in the opening inning and four more in the second to support first-time varsity starter Ben Anderson, and remain perfect in the league’s North Division.
Douglas launched a three-run home run in the first and singled to help kick-start the second as part of the redeeming performance. In all, Shenendehowa (5-0, 5-1) sent 10 batters to the plate in the first frame, and nine stepped up in the next.
“It’s good that we bounced back. That’s the most important thing. Yesterday was a tough, emotional game, and it was good to see the guys respond like that,” said Shenendehowa coach Greg Christodulu. “At the same time, we want to strive for excellence.”
Christodulu was making reference to the final five innings, when Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake reliever Jacob Shippey held the Plainsmen scoreless. The Plainsmen also failed to score over the final eight innings Saturday in their 2-1, 10-inning setback against non-league opponent North Rockland at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
“Yesterday was tough,” said Anderson, whose twin brother, Ian, anchors the mound staff with Bryan Warzek. “It was good to see our offense bounce back.”
“I think we were all trying to do a little too much against North Rockland,” said Douglas, one of 14 lettermen back from last season’s state Class A runner-up team. “That hurt us.”
Shippey helped Burnt Hills (2-2, 2-3) in a big way with his effort.
“He was awesome. What he did was huge for us when you’ve got seven games in 11 days coming up,” Burnt Hills coach Rob Duell said of the junior. “He gave us five really good innings. He was getting ahead of batters. If we had to use four or five pitchers today, we’re in big trouble.”
Burnt Hills starter Zack Agan found himself in that spot quickly, when Zak Sargent lead off with an infield single, Josh Hayner doubled and Douglas belted his second homer of the spring over the left field fence.
Matt Alverson hit an RBI single and Andrew Pedone hit a sacrifice fly before the first inning was through, and Rich Dunn chased Agan with an RBI single in the second that made it 6-0.
“He’ll [Agan] bounce back,” said Duell. “It won’t effect him. He knows it was one start. We’ll look for good things the next time.”
Shippey gave up three straight singles when he came on, with Joe Fraser and Frank Pizzo picking up RBI, and Pedone had another sacrifice fly before the BH-BL reliever began his solid stint with an inning-ending strikeout.
“He hung in there,” Christodulu said in a tip of the cap to Shippey, who gave up four hits over the last five frames. “He threw strikes and they played good defense behind him.”
Anderson scattered eight hits over six innings, and finished by striking out the side after John Clayton’s single.
“The first inning, with us getting ahead, it helped a lot. It took the pressure off,” said Anderson, a junior righty. “When I got base runners on, I just had to get through innings.”
A catcher all his life, Anderson saw his first action as a Plainsmen pitcher last year with junior varsity.
“[Plainsmen pitching coach] Keith Lansley saw something in him. He has a good baseball mind and very good command,” said Christodulu. “He did well for his first varsity start, and he could develop into something. It looks like he has a lot of promise.”
Dan Maynard knocked in two BH-BL runs with a groundout and a double, and Aaron Delano hit a sacrifice fly.
“I was happy with the last five innings. Down big, it’s easy to give at-bats away, but we didn’t,” said Duell. “We did some good things. It’s something to build on.”
Dutchmen win
Matt Pierce worked around 10 singles, and Ryan Curry delivered a two-run homer to lift Guilderland (4-1, 4-1) past Columbia, 11-0.
Pierce struck out six and walked one, throwing 69 of his 99 pitches for strikes, while Evan Sanders had a double and single, and Jack Graber and Brandon Peda both added two singles.
Andrew Harris hit three singles for the Blue Devils (1-4, 2-5).
Joe Canty, Pat Lacijan and Luke Gold collected three singles apiece, and Jake DeVito gave up one run over six innings as Ballston Spa (2-2, 4-3) beat Niskayuna, 9-7.
Mike Van Heusen and Nick Insognia both had a double and single for Niskayuna (2-3, 2-5), and Matt Toy added two singles.
SHENENDEHOWA 9,
BURNT HILLS-BALLSTON LAKE 3
Shenendehowa 540 000 0 — 9 14 1
BH-BL 001 020 0 — 3 8 1
B. Anderson, Malachowski (7) and Pearson; Agan, Shippey (2) and Maynard.
GUILDERLAND 11, COLUMBIA 0
Guilderland 710 100 2 — 11 12 0
Columbia 000 000 0 — 0 10 2
Pierce and Curry; Sanchez, Zuba (4) and McCaffrey.
BALLSTON SPA 9, NISKAYUNA 7
Ballston Spa 102 131 1 — 9 11 2
Niskayuna 000 010 6 — 7 10 8
DeVito, Tyburski (7) and Lacijan; Connors, Kerr (4), Houghtaling (7) and Toy.
Categories: High School Sports
