By Mitch Abramson
It’s possible Christopher Fuchs knew what type of game he was in for. The pitcher on Townsend Harris’ baseball team was nervous before the ‘B’ semifinal. The Hawks had never gotten past the first round of the playoffs, and here he was, in what could be the final game of his high school career, trying to reach the championship game for the first time in school history.
“This was the biggest game of my life,” said the senior. “I was ready to throw up [before the game].”
So to calm his nerves, Fuchs, who went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, paced up and down the dugout like he was walking down a plank, and when he was ready, took the mound and pitched six-plus innings of six-hit ball, alowing three earned runs and striking out five to help No. 4 Townsend Harris (19-1, 15-1 Queens Central B) beat top-seeded Environmental Studies 10-5 Monday at St. John’s University.
The Hawks advanced to the PSAL ‘B’ championship game Friday at Shea Stadium against No. 18 Beach Channel at 4 p.m.
“I was just trying to stay ahead in the count, not fall behind and not hit guys and not let guys get on base,” Fuchs said. “I was trying to keep them at bay so that they wouldn’t steal any bases.”
The game was full of chances to score as both clubs committed five errors. Townsend Harris shortstop Nikolas Kaloudis was hit by a pitch and scored when Christopher Guillou slapped a shot to deep centerfield that Noel Mercedez let drop to give Townsend Harris a 1-0 lead in the second.
Fuchs stepped into the batter’s box next and doubled to left, but it was a wild pitch by sophomore Aneudi Garcia that brought home Guillou to make it 2-0.
Michael Badala drove in Fuchs and Townsend Harris led 3-0. The Hawks added three more runs in the fifth on a balk that scored Kaloudis and on RBI hits by Fuchs and Michael Schwartz to lead 6-1.
“I knew we had a lot of talent. It was a matter of if they wanted to put it together as a team,” said Townsend Harris first-year-coach Raymond Adamkiewicz.
The Eagles took advantage of two Townsend Harris errors to rally in the fifth to pull within 6-4, but Environmental Studies (30-5) continued to self-destruct, giving up a run on a sixth inning balk and on a failed rundown that let in a run in the seventh to trail 9-5.
The Eagles entered the game with a reputation for last minute heroics, having rallied back from a 6-0 deficit to defeat Franklin K. Lane 7-6 in the second round of the playoffs. But on Monday it was not to be.
“When you’re playing with young people you have to have confidence,” said Enviromental Studies coach Richard Corbo. “Making plays [in the field] would have gotten us all riled up. But when things are not going well, the kids are not that experienced to be able to put that aside.”
Townsend Harris has seven seniors in the starting line-up. Although they didn’t play blunder-free baseball, they did enough to win convincingly. Now they believe they can win it all.
“I think after [we won] the first round of the playoffs we realized that we were just as good as any team out there and we could win,” said senior catcher Joe Kresse, who went 3-5 with an RBI and a run scored. “I thought we would be strong [this season] because we had a strong group of seniors.”
Beach Channel Upsets Morris To Reach ‘B’ Final
Thomas Kazalski, Beach Channel’s baseball coach, is used to getting doused with water after games. The players spray the coach win or lose, to celebrate victory or just to celebrate the end of seven innings.
On Monday, Kazalski, in his 12th year as coach, got the same water treatment, but this time it was because the Dolphins beat Morris 6-3 to advance to the PSAL ‘B’ championship game for the first time in school history.
“This is a unique team in that every game someone new always steps up,” said Kazalski, who lost in the second round of last year’s playoffs. “You can’t predict who will do it, but the next day someone knew always steps up.”
Monday was no different. In the top of the seventh, with the score tied at three, junior Ernie Reyes drove in Lemonte Attles on a single to take a 4-3 lead. Jonathan Cuba and Gregory Perdriel followed with RBI hits to put the game out of reach.
“Way before the season started, my gut feeling was that we would get further then we went last year, but the season didn’t go as I figured,” Kazalski said. “There were times when we played terrible ball and our pitching was shaky. But I stressed to my players to take care of the rock, and I think they listened. [Since then] we haven’t really hurt ourselves. The teams we’ve played have hurt themselves.”
The Dolphins led 1-0 on a walk by Rubi Ramos, who then stole second, reached third on a wild pitch and crossed home on a thowing error in the second inning.
11th-seeded Morris scored two in the fourth after Misael Valdez walked with the bases loaded to force in a run. Joshua Leon then reached base on a single and scored when Dolphins’ pitcher Daniel Rodriguez mishandled a bunt by Angel DeJesus.
Beach Channel (20-8) scored twice in the fifth on a throwing error and a RBI-single by junior Andrew Chaluisant to retake the lead 3-2, and Morris tied the game in the sixth on a sacrifice fly.
Beach Channel raised some eye brows by getting this far. Seeded 18th entering the tournament, the Dolphins upset No.2 Graphic Arts and Communications in the second round 12-11 after almost blowing a 12-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh. The Dolphins also stopped Gompers, seeded seventh, in the quarterfinals 4-2.
Townsend Harris 8, Thomas Edison 0. Nikolas Kaloudis went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs for Townsend Harris in a PSAL ‘B’ quarterfinal playoff game Friday at Franklin K. Lane
Beach Channel 4, Samuel Gompers 2. Charles Novak went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Beach Channel Friday in a ‘B’ quarterfinal playoff game at Moe Finkelstein Field.
Reach Mitch Abramson by E-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
