Baseball

Diamond facets

Sullivan West clinches first Division IV title since ’03; Fallsburg’s Colin Whitaker ends career with a hit in every game

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY - Sullivan West’s final league game of the season, an 8-0 win that completed a sweep of the Comets on May 21, may have seemed routine fare as Brad Reimer tossed a three-hit shutout. Westie bats were paced by Mark Tesseyman’s three RBI, and Eric Minton’s fine two hits and two runs.

But this game was anything but routine.

Sullivan West clinched its first Division IV baseball title since 2003 when the Bulldogs captured the crown in a tilt against Burke, remembered most for its game-saving catch by Billy Nordenhold on a blast by Eagle pitcher Mark Broadhead.

This year’s team had the right stuff to recapture that long-sought-after glory: pitching depth with Reimer, Logan Grishaber, Austin Sauer and Ryan Alsdorf, thunderous hitting up and down the line up and an effective defense.

By putting Fallsburg away, the Dawgs can set their sights on a sectional run that will likely begin on June 1 with a home game.

Fallsburg’s efforts have been notable and worthy of praise. Though the loss ended their 2009 campaign at 1-17 (0-12 OCIAA), senior Colin Whitaker came into this fray having hit in every game of the season.

Now, in his final game of his impressive three-sport tour-de-force career, he had to face the league’s most dominant pitcher to keep his hitting streak perfect.

Reimer looked as if he might even be perfect as he retired the first nine Comets, picking up six of his eventual 10 strikeouts in the process.

But Fallsburg coach Mike Weiner was determined to not add the ignominy of being on the wrong side of a perfect game to a season that had already had its share of disappointments.

He instructed Sam Ingber to bunt at the outset of the fourth inning. Ingber beat out the bunt to break up the no-no and Weiner sighed with relief.

Two batters later, Whitaker roped a single up the middle for his milestone moment as his parents looked on proudly. Whitaker punctuated his swan song with a series of fine plays at third base. Having watched him excel at soccer and basketball over the past four years, this writer was hardly surprised by his hustle and effort. Whitaker hopes to play baseball at Hudson Valley Community College next year.

Reimer would yield only one more hit on the day, a fifth-inning single to Dan Seletsky, The Bulldogs’ hope to be the two seed in sectionals. Undefeated Pine Plains will be the number-one seed. Others in the mix will include Burke, O’Neill, Spackenkill and Highland.

Fallsburg had only nine players. Javed Nabil pitched for the Comets. The Dawgs got a run in the first as Minton singled and stole second. Grishaber drove him in with a base hit.

Nabil held the Westies at bay in the second but things fell apart in the third inning, as Alsdorf and Minton singled and a walk to Grishaber loaded them up with no outs. Walks to Reimer and Tesseyman brought in two runs and a passed ball with Jeremy DeGori at the plate brought in a third run.

DeGori singled to drive in the fourth run but Ingber tagged Tesseyman out at the plate.

Whitaker fielded a hard grounder by R.J. Rosa and started an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

The Bulldogs added three runs in the fifth on a two-run double by Tesseyman and an RBI single by “Bones” Rosa.

The team enthusiastically welcomed pinch hitter Ryan Michel in the sixth inning. Michel worked out a walk to the delight of the dugout denizens.

Weiner emphasized the positives: “They played hard all year and they never gave up. We had some close moments this year when things didn’t come exactly as we wanted them to. Today, everyone worked hard. Both pitchers did really well and the fielding was incredible. Colin got his hit and kept his streak going. Sam had a nice bunt to break up the perfect game. We wish the seniors all of the best next year in all of their endeavors,” Weiner said.

Sullivan West coach Kurt Scheibe lauded his team. “They’re a great group of kids, and are a lot of fun to work with.” Scheibe could have used Minton and Rosa to pitch as well this season, but with a four-man rotation, they had to limit their impact to contributions at the plate and in the field.

The coach planned to use them in practice on May 25 to throw against live hitting. “In sectionals, you never know with weather, etcetera, what’s going to happen.

The Bulldogs improved to 16-3 (10-2 OCIAA).

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of photos from the game.