PURCHASE — The two-seed Fieldston Eagles took on the four-seed Long Island Lutheran (LuHi) Crusaders at SUNY Purchase for the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) championship.
With a light drizzle hitting the field, after player introductions and the national anthem, sophomore ace Matthew Muzikant took the mound for the Crusaders. Muzikant shut down Fieldston for six and two-thirds innings, striking out five and allowing two runs (one earned). He was outmatched by Eagles’ ace Luc Roure, though. Despite allowing a runner to reach third with fewer than two outs in each of the first two innings, leading to an inflated pitch count, Roure shut down the Crusaders. With help from center fielder Ellis Lynch-Kahn on a game-saving catch, he allowed just one run over his first six innings, striking out eight Crusaders.
After throwing 92 pitches, Roure stayed on the mound for the top of the seventh inning. And after shortstop Cameron Coco reached on a single as the tying, leadoff hitter, Kayden Bates came to the plate as the potential last out. On the first pitch of the at-bat, though, Bates hit a screaming line drive just out of the reach of right fielder Abe Lambert, driving in Coco with a game-tying triple. Roure managed to escape without allowing any further damage, but Fieldston went down in the bottom of the seventh, and the game headed to extra innings.
In the top of the eighth inning, closer Max Held came in for the Eagles and sent down the three, four and five hitters of LuHi in order, putting Fieldston in a perfect position in the bottom of the eighth, with the three, four and five hitters due up.
Shortstop Jack Dalven Swidler led off the bottom of the inning with a first-pitch single up the middle, and after first baseman Teddy Shaw advanced him to second on a groundout, second baseman Sammy Bialkin singled to right, putting runners on the corners with one out. Catcher and third baseman Noah Nemirovsky came to the plate, and, with a gutsy call from coach Tony Marro, Nemirovsky laid a beautiful bunt down the first base line. With the safety squeeze in play, Dalven Swidler sprinted home and scored without a throw, giving Fieldston the 3-2 victory. Held recorded the win.
This win gave Fieldston its first-ever NYSAIS baseball championship, putting a close to a momentous season for the Eagles.
