AHS Boys Baseball Team Seals its 10th MVAL Loss on Senior Night

The varsity team struggled to combat James Logan’s all-around strength, dropping to 7th in the league

Staff Writer

Following its dominant offensive showing and win against Moreau Catholic, the May 14th senior night matchup against James Logan offered the AHS varsity boys baseball team one of its final opportunities to regain momentum in a late-season climb. Though the final 0-3 loss reflected season-long setbacks, ambition from the team’s underclassmen pointed to positives, including a promising foundation that looks to revitalize its record next spring.

Entering the game with merely three league wins, American faced a substantial gap in both offensive and defensive consistency against James Logan, MVAL’s second-place team. Against a 10-2 record, the team prepared for James Logan’s all-encompassing strength by maximizing its plate appearances and minimizing minor, yet costly, defensive errors in high-leverage situations, according to Dillon Hsiao (12), the team’s starting shortstop, who, remarkably, has performed strongly as a two-fold offensive and defensive player in his four seasons.

While Maverick Pinkevich (#23) supported the team from the dugout, Justin Furtado (#1) made three plate appearances, garnering two strikeouts (Photo Credit: Nanki Kaur (12)).

In the top of the first inning, starting pitcher Eric Keesis (11) handled James Logan’s early batters most notably by inducing soft contact and maintaining control over pitches. “I was mostly aiming to keep the players off balance in the batter’s box, keep pitches away from the batter, and throw a lot of offspeed pitches,” Keesis said. Despite this, Ivan Perez, coming home on an RBI single from the following batter, earned the Colts the first run of the game. In the bottom of the frame, after hitting a single, Hsiao was ultimately caught in an ambitious move to steal second.

The Eagles closed out the top of the second inning quickly, with Keesis holding three consecutive James Logan batters hitless. Still, with no score changes, American’s offensive production stalled into the third inning. The Eagles largely played from behind throughout the game barring a particularly impressive fourth-inning play in which catcher Carson Rice (12) tagged a James Logan runner out at the plate.

The team’s inconsistent run-scoring ability, coupled with generally weaker defensive play than in previous years, was, in part, due to disruptions the team navigated early in the season. Another one of American’s starting pitchers, Micah Boo (11), whose early season was impeded by a grueling hip injury, said, “I was out for all of pre-season and two weeks of league, and in that period, our losses racked up.” Alongside Keesis, the pair of pitchers were expected to undertake increased responsibility in preparation for their senior seasons. However, having initially lacked a fully-functioning starting rotation, the Eagles were slow to find their comfort on either side of the ball.

Jacob Yudashkin (#3) delivered a noteworthy defensive performance, finishing the game without committing an error (Photo Credit: Nanki Kaur (12)).

The Colts capitalized on this by effectively extending its lead in the fifth inning due to an American fielding error that allowed a runner on second to come home on a triple. Heading into the final inning in a 0-2 deficit, James Logan’s pitcher Wesley Vega blocked any chance of an American late-game comeback in a hitless final frame, sealing its 3-0 win.

The team entered the season with the expectation of matching, if not expanding upon, a precedent-setting .500 win-loss record last spring. “After playing the best baseball American has seen in quite some time, the team, as well as the coaches, assumed it could only improve from there,” Boo said. The team’s confidence resulted in a rigorous pre-season schedule, including a gauntlet involving multiple matchups against NCS-qualifying teams.

Irrespective of its uneven record, the two junior pitchers presented an optimistic view of both the team’s final games and the season ahead. Boo said, “Coming off a strong team win against Moreau, our season can end on a very strong note. The way we played against them, I believe that few teams are better than us.” As they prepare to lead the team in their final year, Keesis cited strong team dynamics as a focus for next year’s roster.

“In the beginning, our goal as a team was to have a positive record,” Hsiao said. “That wasn’t the case, but it’s all good. Whether we win or lose, we are all grateful for each other.”