The game went Shenendehowa’s way, and so did the game within the game, a three at-bat confrontation between ace Plainsmen pitcher Ian Anderson and Niskayuna slugger Garrett Whitley on a chilly Friday afternoon.
Anderson retired Whitley twice and hit him with a pitch as part of his six stellar innings, and Shenendehowa pushed all of its runs across in the second frame in a 9-1 Suburban Council victory witnessed by over two dozen major league scouts and a handful of agents.
Anderson gave up two hits, struck out eight and walked one, and the run he allowed was unearned, keeping his ERA at 0.00 over three starts.
“You just have to block it out and have confidence in the team,” said Anderson. “You’ve got to lock in on the catcher and batter. That’s all you can control.”
Whitley and Anderson had squared off before, but never with so many scouts on hand.
“It was cool,” said Whitley, a senior centerfielder. “I heard a lot of people talking. A lot of people were excited about it. I thought it would be something like this.”
Anderson, a right-handed junior, has committed to Vanderbilt. Whitley has signed with Wake Forest, and is projected to be an early-round pick in the June Major League Baseball Draft.
“I’m getting used to the scouts,” said Whitley, before directly addressing the throng of media members. “This is the weirdest part, doing this.”
There was nothing odd about Anderson’s performance. One scout had him clocked out at 90 miles per hour.
“He’s a focused young man, and he took command of the situation,” said Shenendehowa coach Greg Christodulu. “I expected him to throw how he did. No surprise. I thought he was excellent today. He took the ball and was the leader he is and the leader we ask him to be.”
The first batter Anderson faced was Whitley, who grounded out to third on the junior’s first offering.
“I know how he pitches,” said Whitley, who went 1-for-3 against Anderson in a league game last season. “If he threw a fastball, I was going to swing. I got on top of it.”
Anderson threw two strikes before hitting Whitley in the third, and Whitley flew out to center in the sixth, again swinging at the first pitch. Whitley was on deck when Shenendehowa reliever Bryan Warzek enduced a lineout to end the game.
“He didn’t back off Garrett. He went after him with fastballs,” said Christodulu. “That pitch that he hit him with, that might have been a strike.”
“I felt great out there,” said Anderson. “I felt I had everything going.”
Anderson gave up his only run in the sixth when Zack LeBlanc hit an opposite-field double to right and later raced home on a throwing error. That run ended a string of 21 scoreless innings by the Shenendehowa mound staff, which included Nik Malachowski’s no-hitter against Mohonasen Thursday.
“We want it. We want to win,” said Anderson. “We know what we have to do to get wins.”
Shenendehowa (8-0, 8-1) sent 15 batters to the place in its nine-run second inning. The Plainsmen rapped out eight hits against Mike Gabriele and Sean Conners, drew three walks and also took advantage of two errors.
“That took a little pressure off our defense and Ian putting nine runs on the board,” said Christodulu.
Matt Alverson had the only extra base hit in the big frame, an RBI double, and Frank Pizzo, Andrew Pedone, Zack Sargent, Josh Hayner, Brad Pearson and Rich Drum had RBI singles.
Whitley recorded all three outs in the Shenendehowa fifth highlighted by a running grab in the right-center gap that robbed Connor Douglas of extra bases.
“The wind pushed it, but I had it the whole time,” said Whitley.
Nick Insognia had an opposite-field single in the first for Niskayuna (3-4, 3-6).
Niskayuna 000 001 0 — 1 2 4
Shenendehowa 090 000 x — 9 11 2
Gabriele, Conners (2), Apkarian (4), Houghtaling (6) and Toy; I. Anderson, Warzek (7) and Pearson.
Categories: High School Sports
