Baseball: John Jay edges Arlington, heads for intradistrict Section 1 final versus Ketcham
FREEDOM PLAINS - It still was eating at Austin Seipp afterwards, the John Jay-East Fishkill sophomore seemingly reluctant to forgive himself the defensive blunder.
While tracking a soft liner to right, the outfielder stumbled and fell, costing him a split second and allowing the ball to drop just beyond the reach of his belated dive. The result was a run-scoring double that gave Arlington a lead in the third inning.
“I messed up,” he said Wednesday evening, still shaking his head. “That was really bothering me.”
It bothered him more when the deficit grew to three runs and his baseball team, suddenly, was in danger of having its season ended.
“But,” teammate Shane Driscoll said, “we’ve had to fight all season and we’re used to situations like that. Everybody on this team, we believe in each other, and we’re all pulling the rope.”
That tense tug of war included five lead changes and the intensity befitting a season-on-the-line showdown between local rivals.
And, as if scripted by the universe, it was Seipp’s bloop single that ended the back-and-forth, scoring Brady Feliciotto with the go-ahead run in the fifth as the Patriots edged second-seeded Arlington, 8-7, in a Section 1 Class AAA semifinal.
Saving grace: Martin's dramatic stop sends Wappingers to girls lacrosse final
Strong-armed: Oudom, Collins combo leads Spackenkill back to Section 9 final
Grin & bear it: Picone stars for title-contending Ketcham, despite battling Crohn's Disease
Freshman Anthony Batkay pitched 1⅔ perfect innings to record the save, sending John Jay to its first section final since 2012.
“It feels pretty good, especially because I owed the guys,” Seipp said, then able to crack a smile. “We’ve played in a lot of close games and one of the best things about this team is how resilient we are.”
So buoyant, in fact, that John Jay bounced back after getting swept by the Admirals in the regular season.
Now, the third-seeded Patriots have scraped and scrapped to get themselves within a victory of their first championship. Standing in their way, of course, is an intradistrict rival. John Jay will face defending champion Ketcham in the final on Saturday 4 p.m. at SUNY Purchase.
“This will be the first time we’ve met them in the final,” Patriots coach Eric Frink said. “Wappingers will have a champion either way, which is great for the district, but we’re gonna do our best to make sure it’s us.”
John Jay did split two regular-season meetings with Ketcham, including a 1-0 win three weeks ago. That, Driscoll said, will offer them some confidence in preparing to face the No. 1 seed.
“We know it won’t be easy,” the shortstop said, “but we’re in a position to tell ourselves, ‘We’ve done it before.’”
Alexander Jendras went 2 for 2 with two walks, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base for the Patriots (13-7-1). Seipp was 2 for 3 with a double, two RBI, a run and a steal. Marc Cretara drove in two runs and Landon Stichbury and Lucas Silva each had an RBI.
Michael Geary earned the win, striking out three and allowing only an inherited runner to score in two-plus innings.
Arlington scored twice in the fourth inning, tying it at 7 when Tim McCormack scored from third on a balk. But John Jay quickly answered in the fifth as Feliciotto hit a one-out single and got into scoring position on a wild pitch, setting up Seipp’s go-ahead hit.
“We have so many battles with those teams, so it’s great to have the opportunity to face them (in the playoffs),” Seipp said of taking on Arlington and Ketcham. “There is something special about beating your rival.”
Batkay earned his first win last week by tossing five scoreless innings in relief as the Patriots climbed from a seven-run hole and rallied to beat Yorktown. His poise and guile allowed Frink to trust the 14-year-old to protect a one-run lead in a game of this magnitude against an offense that was relentless.
“It’s awesome,” Driscoll said of Batkay’s performances. “It shows the talent and the kind of a character he has. He’s fearless.”
Tim McCormack was 3 for 4 with three runs and an RBI for Arlington (19-3). Eric Santaella went 2 for 3 with a walk, two stolen bases and two runs. Griffin White had two RBI, and Christian Anderson, Liam Suozzo and Tristin Rivera each drove in a run.
“This is the hardest-working group we’ve had in a long time,” Admirals coach John Biasotti said of his team, whose roster this season included several newcomers in significant roles. “If someone had told me months ago that we’d have the record we did and be in the semifinals, I might not have believed it. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
The Patriots raced to a 2-0 lead on Arlington before folks could even get comfortable in their seats. Driscoll led off the game with a homer, then Jendras doubled and stole third before scoring on Cretara’s sacrifice fly.
But the Admirals tied it in the bottom of the inning and added three in the third, including White’s fly ball toward Seipp that turned into a fortuitous RBI double for a 3-2 lead.
“That was the first mistake he’s made in the outfield, and it was a physical one,” Frink said of Seipp, who is their No. 3 hitter in his first varsity season. “This kid has helped carry us, to the point we expect something good every time he’s at bat.”
The Patriots swung back with a five-run fourth inning and went up, 7-5, on Silva’s RBI double.
“We’re passionate about this game and put our all into it, so it hurts pretty damn bad to come up short,” Arlington senior Christian Adorno said. “But the sun comes up tomorrow and we’ll be all right. We had a better season than a lot of people expected.”
Ketcham’s Owen Paino homered and Ryan Mealy pitched a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts for the Storm in a 4-2 win over Mamaroneck in the other semifinal. A few Ketcham players then traveled to Arlington to catch the ending of this game.
That the top three seeds in this class were Dutchess County teams, Frink said, is testament to the local talent and indicative of how competitive their league is.
“That kind of competition toughens you mentally,” the coach said. “We draw from what we’ve been through. I told them throughout the regular season, even after the tough losses, ‘File it, because these experiences are going to help us later if our backs are against the wall.’”
Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Baseball: Jendras, Seipp help John Jay edge Arlington in semifinal
