While the Yankees are Mets – and most baseball fans in New York – are gearing up for what’s expected to be a well-played Subway Series at Yankee Stadium this weekend, another team is preparing for a big day tomorrow.

The Briarcliff Bears, one of the local High School baseball teams I have covered this past season for my newspaper, is gunning for a state title. Last Wednesday the Bears won their section, beating Keio – a team that had beaten them 8-1 during the regular season – by a score of 5-0. (Ironically enough the Bears won their Section at Dutchess Stadium, the same Stadium I interned at…yeah, I had to throw that in).

Briarcliff went on to win its region and this weekend will compete in Binghamton for the Class B New York State title. The Bears from Section 1 will take on Albany Academy from Section 2 tomorrow morning. If they beat Albany, they play the winner of Fredonia (Section 6) and Oneonta (Section 4) later in the day for the state crown.

Best of luck, guys.

I had the pleasure of writing Briarcliff’s season preview back in March, and I covered the Bears multiple times this season – and each game of theirs I covered, they won.

At the beginning of the year on April 5, the Bears hosted their annual Diamond Classic tournament. They made the finals and routed rival Irvington 20-7, winning their own tournament for the first time since 2009.

Power-hitting senior third baseman John Fussell – who has received offers to play baseball next year at Wake Forest, UMass, and Virginia Tech – collected six hits throughout the Diamond Classic, including a home run. He took home the honor of tourney MVP.

“I’m proud and it’s a great way to start the year off,” Fussell said. “It’s a good feeling; I’ve been doing what I need to do so far and I hope I keep it up.”

Outfielder Spencer Kulman earned all-tournament honors, as he clubbed his first varsity level home run vs. Irvington. His teammates ran out of the dugout to congratulate him on his first round-tripper, and Kulman was just as happy with his feat.

“It was my first real home run,” he said. “I’ve had a couple in scrimmages the last two years, but it’s good to finally have one count and it was nice to have them come out for me; a good feeling.”

On May 18 the Bears once again won big, beating another rival, Pleasantville, 10-4. Briarcliff had lost to Pleasantville 2-1 two days earlier, but let out all their aggression in the fourth inning, plating nine runs.

Bears’ Head Coach John Consorti attributed the big fourth inning to some tweaking.

“I think we made a little bit of an adjustment in our at-bats,” he said. “Our at-bats were a little better, we were more patient, and we had more opportunity to use some of our speed on the bases, so it was a very positive inning.”

Lastly, on May 26, I covered their quarterfinal game vs. Putnam Valley, the second stop on the road to their Section title. The Bears, seeded at No. 1, had beaten Croton-Harmon 5-0 the day before in the opening round. Unlike a lot of their other games, however, the Bears didn’t win big.

Briarcliff squeaked by Putnam Valley, 3-2.

Bears’ senior pitcher Paul Henshaw had done a nice job shutting PV down the entire game. That is, until the last inning. Ahead 3-0 in the seventh, things got a little dicey for Henshaw, as he let up two runs with the tying run standing on third base with two outs.

But in the pressure-laden predicament, Henshaw remained calm. He got Tigers’ third baseman Chris Wright to ground out to first, as Briarcliff finished the ninth-seeded Tigers off.

Before Henshaw got Wright to ground out to end the game, Consorti made a visit to the mound. The coach talked to his ace, calming him down when the game was on the line.

“He told me to relax and keep doing my thing,” Henshaw said of the powwow. “He told me to bare down and I was able to regain my focus and keep doing what I was doing, which was jamming them inside.”

The Bears only led 2-0 going into the sixth inning, and Henshaw was saved by pinch-hitter Matt Pasternak – who lined an RBI single to left field to drive in Kulman in the frame. The decision to pinch hit paid dividends for Briarcliff, and Consorti was happy Pasternak came up big when he sent him to the plate.

“Well, it made me look good,” he said of the move. “Matt has more of a short swing and is a contact hitter, so I figured I’d give it a shot and it worked out pretty well.”

Overall, it was a lot of fun to be a small part of the Bears’ team this season. I can only hope they make it all the way and bring home a state title tomorrow.

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Other Congratulations

I’d also like to send a special shout out to the Byram Hills baseball team, another squad I was able to cover this year. The Bobcats were seeded at No. 9 and made it all the way to the Class A section finals. Unfortunately they lost to Harrison, but nonetheless, I’d say it’s very impressive for a nine seed to make it that far.

Byram Hills collected a playoff win at Beacon – a field I’m very familiar with. I made a lot of memories when I played summer ball for the town of Beacon and I’m glad they were able to make some memories there, too.

Although they didn’t win, congrats to Head Coach Scott Saunders, Andrew Slosberg, Scott Rose, and the rest of the Bobcats on a wonderful season. It was a lot of fun covering you guys this year.

(Photo Credit: LoHud, Examiner News, Google, Patch)