It may have taken the Rye baseball team three tries to score a win over league foe Eastchester this year, but for the Garnets, the wait was well worth it. On Saturday, May 21, Rye squeaked past the Eagles in the Class A semifinals, beating Eastchester 2-1 to get one step closer to a Section I title.

Although losses were a rare occurrence for Rye (17-3) during the regular season, most of the Garnets’ missteps came at the hands of Eastchester, who bested the No. 2 seed twice this year to capture the league title. According to Rye senior Ryan Surhoff, however, those two defeats served as teachable moments for the Disbrow Park ballclub. 

“We weren’t ready in the regular season,” said Surhoff. “We came in too high, they beat us, and I think that’s helped.”

Surhoff played a major role for the Garnets’ success on Saturday, belting a solo home run to stake sophomore starter Shep Griffiths to a 1-0 lead in the third inning. The Eagles would rally back in the fourth, making the most of a leadoff double by Mike Rinaldi who eventually came around on a single by Gabe D’Versa-Herbert. But that would be the only run of the game given up by Griffiths, who managed to extricate himself from a few tight spots, allowing just four hits in five innings of work. 

“[Griffiths] shows a lot of grit out there and he deserves all the credit today,” said Surhoff. “We helped him out today at a few points, but this one is all his.”

Surhoff would eventually come on in relief for Griffiths in the sixth inning of a 1-1 ballgame but the score wouldn’t stay knotted for long. In the bottom half of the inning, Jack Margiloff hit a leadoff double and would eventually come around to score on a two-base throwing error to put the Garnets on top. 

Surhoff would nail things shut in the seventh inning, ending the game with a strikeout of Eastchester slugger Chris Howard as a runner attempted to steal second. Howard made contact with Rye catcher Jackson Fowle on the throw, prompting an interference call that would account for the game’s final out. 

“I was trying to stay away [from Howard] and once the count got full, I knew the runner was going so I just tried to give Jackson a chance to throw the guy out,” said Surhoff. “Luckily he threw and got the interference call.’

Due to the double-elimination nature of the semifinals, Eastchester will get a chance to play its way back into Section I finals this contention this week, beginning with a do-or-die game against Nanuet. Rye will also be in action in the winners’ bracket, when they host Somers on Monday afternoon. 

“We just gotta be ready for the next one,” said Surhoff. “We can take some time, enjoy this one for tonight, and then refocus for our next test.”

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