American Studies progresses through playoffs

Posted

One down, three to go.

Ever since the High School of American Studies lost in last year’s PSAL Championship game at Yankee Stadium, the mantra for the Senators has remained the same — get back to the title game this year and wrap up some unfinished business by winning the city title.

So after rolling through a regular season in which they dropped just one game while winning the Bronx ‘AA’ West Division title, the Senators began their march to the championship with their first playoff game against Lab Museum of Manhattan.

And like just about every other game this season for the Senators, it ended with a ‘W.’

Jakob Feinstein went 4-for-4 with a triple and four RBI and senior lefthander Jack Buckley was masterful once again on the mound as he limited the Gators to two runs while striking out a dozen as American Studies rolled to a convincing 12-2 victory at Seton Park.

The victory sets up a very interesting quarterfinal-round date with East Side Community High School, the very team that ended the Senators’ championship dreams at Yankee Stadium last June. The rematch was scheduled for Wednesday, June 1 at Seton Park at 3:30 p.m., after The Press went to print.

“I’ve been seeing the goal since we started the season,” said Feinstein, the Senators’ stellar senior catcher. “We don’t talk about it but it’s known. Last year we were there and we know we can make it back. It’s championship or bust this time. It really is.”

American Studies jumped out to a 2-0 lead after scoring single runs in both the first and second innings on RBI singles by Feinstein and Oliver Heller. The Senators then found themselves in a rather unfamiliar position of being in a tie game when Lab Museum plated a pair of runs in the top of the third inning on a two-run triple by Benjamin Silver. It marked the first time all season the Senators found themselves in a tie game.

It didn’t last long, however, as American Studies erupted for eight runs in their half of the third inning to blow open the game and with Buckley on the mound. The Gators never mounted another serious threat.

“That’s the first time we’ve been in a tie game all year so I know when they tied it up I was frustrated,” Buckley said. “I gave up the hits and I didn’t have my best stuff but when we bounced back and put runs on the board I kind of knew they weren’t going to come back. I felt that from there we could shut them down. The guys picked me up. We just knew we had to take care of business. We knew what we had to do.”

The bottom of the third inning saw the Senators send 13 batters to the plate as they scored eight runs on six hits with Feinstein, Casey Press, Noah Koy and Buckley all knocking in runs in the inning with three more coming home on a Gators’ throwing error for a 10-2 lead.

The Senators’ big inning was just another confidence booster for a team already brimming with it.

“I knew when they scored those two runs, it would mean nothing because with Jack on the mound and with our confidence so high, no one is beating us,” Feinstein said. “When we have our good pitching no one is touching us.”

The Gators certainly didn’t as they went quietly the rest of the way as Buckley racked up six strikeouts over the next three innings. Just another day at the office for the crafty lefthander with the near-unhittable fastball and devastating curveball, one that sent many a Gator back to the bench muttering to himself.

“I love catching for Jack. I know it’s either going to be a nice fastball or that curveball,” Feinstein said. “No one can touch that curve. After he struck out one them the guys said, ‘Man, that was a nice curve.’”

 

Old score

 

The Senators’ quick strike offense that led to that 8-run inning was nothing new for head coach Howard Blitz.

“That’s what we do. We smell the blood in the water and we jump on you,” Blitz said. “Jakob Feinstein had four hits, Oliver Heller came through with a big base hit as did Noah Koy and Casey [Press] had a big hit so all in all I can’t complain.”

Yes, there is very little to complain about these days for Blitz’s Boys, who get the opportunity to settle an old score with East Side on Wednesday and in the process move another game closer to the title tilt at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s big for us to get back into the playoffs,” Buckley said. “We had a bye so we didn’t play the first round so this is getting our feet wet. [East Side] is the team that beat us last year. It would be great to get a win against them and we’re confident we can do that. To us making it back to the playoffs doesn’t mean anything. It’s winning it. So as soon as this game ended we started saying ‘Three more games’ because if we don’t win the last one these games mean nothing.”

“Beating them would be sweet,” Feinstein said of East Side. “But any victory is sweet no matter who it is. We’ll be ready for Wednesday. I can’t wait.”

American Studies, baseball, Jakob Feinstein, Sean Brennan

Comments