Greeley Baseball Tops Clarkstown North 5-2 Behind Schulman’s Dominance and Fifth-Inning Rally

The Greeley baseball team (4-3, 2-1 in League) got a massive victory on Thursday morning, beating Clarkstown North (4-6, 2-1 in league) 5-2. The Quakers prevailed on timely hitting and a dominant outing from their ace, Ben Schulman.

Thursday’s pitching matchup saw two of the best arms in the state go head to head; Greeley’s Ben Schulman and Clarkstown North’s Quinn Miller are both Division 1 commits with fastballs above 90 miles per hour. It was a tough day for hitters on both sides while the two aces were on the bump. Schulman went four innings, allowing one hit, two walks, one unearned run, and ten strikeouts. This dominant performance kept Greeley in the game, who were held hitless in the first four innings.

Miller retired nine of the first ten Quaker batters he faced, finishing with seven strikeouts and zero hits allowed. Despite Miller’s dominant performance, he struggled to throw consistent strikes, walking four batters and surrendering two earned runs in 4.2 innings of work. The bullpen proved to be the difference, as Mike McCarville provided three quality innings following Schulman’s outing. The right-handed junior threw 45 pitches, 36 of which were strikes. Meanwhile, the Clarkstown pitching staff had a disastrous fifth inning, in which Miller was pulled from the game. He and the bullpen proceeded to allow five runs in the fifth, an inning filled with walks and long at bats. Other than the fifth, Clarkstown did not allow a single run, yet that one inning was enough for Greeley to hold on and win.

The Greeley offense came into this game with one goal: score a run. The team remains undefeated when a run crosses the board, and it would not be easy facing an ace the quality of Miller. Nine of the first ten Quaker hitters were retired, while Clarkstown went up 1-0 in the second. Through the first three innings, the Quakers only reached base once on a Jared Kupperman walk. In the fourth inning, the Greeley bats showed signs of life; after Rhys Herrell reached on an error and Spencer Walden walked. Despite runners being in scoring position, they were left stranded on first and third. Hopes of a big league win seemed dim as Clarkstown scored again in the top of the fifth, making it 2-0. With no hits, no runs, and nine outs away from getting shut out for the fourth time in seven games, Greeley desperately needed an offensive spark. Lucky enough, they were able to find it.

Rhys Herrell was the catalyst of the Greeley offensive outburst. His ability to reach on an error off of Miller in the fourth inning seemed to have ignited the offense. The sophomore second baseman has the least strikeouts on the team as an underclassman, a sign of maturity and discipline at the dish that the Greeley coaching staff clearly recognizes.

In the bottom of the 5th, Greeley dug themselves an early hole with only one of the first three batters reaching base. With Miller approaching a high pitch count, he walked Cole Stein, leaving runners on first and second with two outs. Clarkstown North decided to pull Miller, turning to the bullpen in a crucial spot to face none other than the star sophomore Rhys Herrell. On the first pitch of the at bat, Herrell smacked an RBI double down the left field line, showing impressive opposite field power from a lefty. This finally put Greeley on the board.

“Without him [Herrell], we would not have scored a run,” said Ben Schulman after the game.

Following Herrell’s clutch double, Ben Falk was intentionally walked, loading the bases. This brought one of the hottest hitters, Junior Ben Lederman to the plate with the bases loaded. Lederman roped a single to left field, tying up the game at two. Following Lederman’s hit, the Clarkstown pitching staff lost control, hitting two of the next three batters and walking one, bringing the score to 5-2. While it was only the fifth inning in which Greeley tallied runs, the five scored were enough for an important victory.

Although Greeley scored an impressive five runs, there are still major offensive concerns for the remainder of the season; the Quakers only had two hits, and without timely hitting, they could have scored zero runs. The team has a cumulative batting average of .157, which has to be raised if they want to be a contender in Section One. Despite poor hitting from the majority of the Quakers, Lederman has been a bright spot in a dark time for the struggling offense. With his on Wednesday, Lederman’s average improved to .308 and he’s the only player on the team to have an on base percentage above .400 (.438).

With their next game being against North Rockland on Wednesday, Greeley gets a lengthy break to rest up and prepare for the second half of the season.