On a beautiful Friday afternoon on Jeff Adams Field, the baseball team began pursuit of their first State Championship in the quarterfinals of the NYSAIS Tournament. It was a familiar spot for the Bears, who were making their fourth straight appearance in the quarters dating back to 2019, but for the first time as the top seed (COVID-19 canceled the NYSAIS tournament in 2020 and 2021).

In the Bears’ last two quarterfinal match-ups, they shut out Long Island Lutheran 10-0 in 2022 and no-hit Columbia Prep in a 12-0 victory in 2023. After defeating rival Poly Prep 6-0 on Monday in an emotional cap to the regular season, the Bears looked poised to blow past #8 Trinity en route to their third consecutive berth in the State Final Four.

Instead, after three walks, a hit batsman, and a chopped single down the third base line, the Bears found themselves trailing by 0-3 after a sloppy 2nd inning. Lesser teams would have crumbled under the pressure, but the Bears, drawing from a reservoir of intense practices, challenging games, and palpable camaraderie, the Blue & White immediately went about chipping away their deficit.

Juju Martinez reached base to open the bottom of the second on an error by the shortstop. Travis Stroud the II followed with a single, and after a fly out, Alex Baaden sent Martinez home on a single. Jordan Serrano recorded the third single of the inning on a line drive to center to load the bases with one out and Larry Hotaling III kept the train moving with his own liner to center that pulled the Bears within 2-3. A fielder’s choice and strikeout followed to end the Bear threat, but not before two big runs to answer Trinity’s crooked inning.

In the 3rd, Matthew Ramirez worked around hitting the leadoff man with a pop out and strikeout before catcher Anthony DeCesare erased a Tiger attempting to steal second to end the inning. The Bears immediately went back to work at the plate as Seth Laureano walked and Martinez reached when the pitcher made an error on his sacrifice bunt. Laureano and Martinez then executed a double steal in a 1-0 count to put both runners in scoring position with no outs. Stroud II followed with a strikeout, but the catcher dropped the third strike sending Stroud dashing to the open first base. An error on the throw allowed Stroud to reach safely and Laureano to score and knot the game at 3-3. A Mateo Lopez walk loaded the bases, but three straight strikeouts followed as the Bears failed to take advantage of a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation.

In the 4th, 8th-grader Wyatt Simons came on in relief of Ramirez and executed a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a ground out. In the bottom half, Aiden Ruiz walked and DeCesare was hit by a pitch. A one-out single from Martinez sent Ruiz around to score and give the Bears their first lead at 4-3. However, once again, the Bears left runners on with a chance to break the game open.

Simons retired the first two batters of the 5th before working around a two-out walk with a ground out, holding Trinity in check and taking the pressure off the Bear offense. In the bottom half, the Bears finally gained a cushion with a three-run inning that began with the Tigers’ fourth error when Baaden reached on an E5. After the Bears were caught stealing on the basepaths, three straight singles followed from Serrano, Hotaling III, and Ruiz to load the bases with one out. DeCesare followed with a fourth consecutive single to plate two and give the Bears their first multi-run advantage. The Tigers’ fifth error of the game followed two batters later when a Martinez ground ball handcuffed the shortstop, the third time the 8th-grader reached via error, and led to a run and a 7-3 Bear lead.

In the 6th, Simons continued to mow down Trinity with a second 1-2-3 inning that began with a pair of strikeouts and ended with a one-pitch ground out. In the bottom half, Hotaling III singled for the third time to plate Serrano (walk) and give The Brook an 8-3 advantage.

In the 7th, Simons closed out the victory by working around a walk to retire Trinity via two flyouts and a strikeout. In an impressive performance, the 15-year-old slammed the door on the Tigers’ upset hopes with 0 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts over 4.0 innings. Hotaling III (1 R, 3 H, 2 RBI, 1 BB), Serrano (2 R, 3 H, 1 BB), and DeCesare (1 H, 2 RBI) led the way at the plate.

The Bears move on to the NYSAIS Semifinals on Monday afternoon on Jeff Adams Field, where, for a third straight year, they will face #4 Fieldston. The Bears defeated the Eagles 7-3 in 2022 and 10-2 a year ago.

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