On Friday afternoon, two of the top baseball teams in the area squared off, as undefeated Eastchester traveled to Rye to take on the 14-0 Garnets. When the dust had settled, however, the Eagles found themselves as the lone unbeaten team in the league, recording a decisive 15-5 win over their hosts. 

Eastchester jumped on Rye starter Tyler Winderman in the second inning, capitalizing on a few walks and defensive miscues to take a 4-0 lead on a two-run home run by Tyler Pfeiffer. Although the Garnets were able to plate two runs in the bottom of the third, Eastchester was able to blow the game open in the next frame, taking an 8-2 lead on a two-out RBI single by John Russell and a three-run dinger by first baseman Chris Howard.

Howard, who would finish the day with a team-high five RBIs, said that he wasn’t sure if his blast would clear the fence right off the bat, but knew he had put a ride into the ball. 

“Off the bat I knew it felt good, but I wasn’t sure if it was out so I just put my head down and started running,” said Howard. “But when I heard everyone start cheering I knew it was gone.”

One of those cheering the loudest was Eastchester starting pitcher Joe Sabia, who picked up the win with 5.2 innings of work. Sabia credited the Eastchester offense with giving him plenty of breathing room against a strong Garnet lineup. 

“It seemed like every time [Rye] scored, we’d come back and score three or four runs,” said Sabia. “It definitely helped us play with confidence knowing that.”

Rye was able to collect some big hits against Sabia—including a two run home run by Julian Pasquale—but never pulled to within six runs following Howard’s blast. According to Sabia the win was especially important for the Eagles, given league foe Rye’s gaudy record and the fact that Eastchester was coming off a game that saw them fight to an extra-innings tie with a three-win Pelham team. 

“That game was a wake up call for us,” said Sabia. “There have been many games where we’ve had slow starts, so [against Rye] we knew we had to come out and play from the beginning.”

Unfortunately for the Eagles, however, Eastchester’s undefeated start to the season would come to an end one day later, as they fell 5-4 to Class AA New Rochelle. Eastchester will close out the regular season with a tough stretch of games, including a May 3 rematch against Rye, followed by a home-and-home series against Byram Hills (10-4)  and a May 12 showdown against Walter Panas (13-1).

“We know that everyone we play is going to be good and that we have to be ready for that,” said Sabia. “This is only going to make us a better team.”

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