Final: Kellenberg 3, Chaminade 2
WP: Andrew Koshy
S: Brendan McCannPhil Schurr go-ahead solo HR and Kellenberg locks up the No. 1 seed for the postseason pic.twitter.com/FwhMqRO936
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2021
When longtime Kellenberg head coach Chris Alfalla stepped down prior to the season, there was only one person that was best-suited to take over for the program and not have them skip a beat. That person is Pat Miles, who was currently coaching at the JV level for the program and was familiar with every varsity player on the roster. That provided Kellenberg with the unique advantage that very few teams on Long Island had – a head coach with knowledge of his players. With the cancelation of the 2020 season, most varsity coaches only had minimal interaction with their current juniors and seniors.
Advantage Kellenberg.
That appeared to at least provide some sort of boost for the Firebirds as they came out of the gate with a fury – winning their first 9 games of the season. Although they limped to the finish line somewhat, they head start provided the luxury of withstanding a cold stretch.
This afternoon, they put a stamp on their great season as they secured the No. 1 seed in the NSCHSAA playoff after a 3-2 victory over a very tough Chaminade team that captured the first two games of the series and were riding a 7-game win streak.
Kellenberg sent sophomore stud Andrew Koshy to the mound. The hard-throwing righty set the side down in order in the first inning including a strikeout. His counterpart, sophomore LHP Matthew Brandt worked around a one-out walk issued to St. John’s-commit Joe Durso to throw up a zero in the first inning
Koshy ran into a bit of trouble in the second inning. He issued a leadoff walk to Andrew Park and that was followed by an E4 to put the first two runners on. He struck out Nolan Nawrocki and induced a fly out to center field before walking Binghamton-commit Nick Ungania to load the bases. With two outs and the bases loaded, he got Hofstra-commit Thomas Lebrecht to fly out to right to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second, the Firebirds got on the board. A leadoff walk was issued to Peter Murphy and he advanced to second on a hard-hit single through the 5.5 hole by Koshy. Steven Hardiman hit an infield single to the second baseman and Murphy was froze between third and home. When the second baseman began to run towards him, he broke towards home and beat the throw home to give Kellenberg a 1-0 lead. That would extend to 2-0 when Brendan McCann hit a sac fly to center to score Koshy. Brandt escaped further damage when Adelphi-commit CJ Picone grounded out to short.
Koshy went fired a scoreless third inning, working around a one-out single to center by Vin Roman with consecutive strikeouts of Tyler Burke and Andrew Park.
Brandt struck out the first two batters of the third inning before issuing back-to-back singles by Phil Schurr and Peter Murphy but he escaped any damage with a strikeout of Koshy on a sharp breaking ball.
In the fourth inning, junior catcher Brian Heckelman crushed a leadoff HR to left field to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Brian Heckelman crushes a solo shot to left to lead off the fourth and Chaminade cuts the deficit to 2-1 pic.twitter.com/fH5f2KqUuv
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2021
Kellenberg briefly appeared like they would add to their lead in the fourth when Steven Hardiman and Kenny Hirschfeld reached on errors but Brandt struck out Brendan McCann and got Picone to pop out to short and Durso to fly out to right.
Defense hurt Kellenberg in the fifth. After a leadoff single by Brady Steinert, a bunt back to the mound was thrown away. Andrew Park made it hurt with a sac fly to center to score Steinert and tie up the game. Koshy escaped further damage with a pop out to third to end the inning.
In the home half of the 5th, Phil Schurr came through with the biggest hit of the game – a solo shot over the fence in left center field to give Kellenberg a 3-2 lead.
In the sixth, Koshy went back out but after a flyout to left and a hit by pitch, he reached the pitch limit and was taken out in favor of LHP Brendan McCann. The southpaw hit Michael Sweeney to advance the tying run to scoring position but he struck out Lebrecht and Steinert to end the inning.
He went back out for the seventh and struck out two batters to slam the door on the victory and clinch the No. 1 seed for the Firebirds. Credit to Pat Miles, his coaching staff and players for their great regular season. Chaminade will receive a first round bye as well, but with the No. 1 seed it means the Firebirds will have homefield advantage through the playoffs.
Kellenberg first year head coach Pat Miles led his team to a 12-3 record and the No. 1 seed entering the playoffs pic.twitter.com/fwF8YMS89e
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2021
