LOCAL SPORTS: Shen baseball holds annual, Super Bowl pancake breakfast

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. — Before plates were filled with pizza, wings and other finger foods for the big game, members of the Shenendehowa High School baseball program were serving up platters of pancakes, eggs and bacon at Ravenswood Pub for their annual pancake breakfast on Super Bowl Sunday.

Shenendehowa varsity head coach Greg Christodulu can’t put his finger quite exactly on when the fundraiser was started with help of the program’s ‘Dugout Club’ booster or how many tickets or pancakes they’ve served over the year, but he does know the facts and figures that mean more to he and his team.

“Here’s the important numbers — the seats are always filled, the conversation is awesome, whether you’re rehashing today’s events in sports and the Super Bowl or talking about games that took place last season or years before,” he said. “I just sat down with an alumni parent from last year and you know that their son has moved on, but the conversation is, ‘how’s the program? What new things are we doing? What upgrades are making at the field again?’

“This fundraiser allows us to kind of enhance our overall experience.”

In the lead-up to the event, while the boosters sold tickets throughout the community, the players themselves did as well.

Christodulu tasked each of his potential players for the 2023-24 season to sell five tickets on their own, with many of them blowing past that number evident by the packed tables lined with plates, both licked clean and full of food, and a bar-top that couldn’t be seen due to overflowing bags of drive-thru orders arranged nearly three-deep across the space.

“I got lucky. My brother is on the 12U Clifton Park team, so we got his whole team to buy some tickets and they’re all here,” said senior captain and Plainsmen pitcher James Redick, nodding towards two tables that had been pushed together to seat more than 10 Little Leaguers that had come out for the breakfast.

The event comes for the team as a light-hearted precursor to tryouts and preseason, which will start up for the Plainsmen in close to a month’s time. While as of now, Christodulu tabs them as ‘candidates’ for either the JV or varsity team’s upcoming seasons for now, the players can already feel a bond start to grow between themselves and their community, bigger than just over pancakes and the big game.

“Tryouts are in a month, I think, so we’re really excited about that and we’re returning a lot of players and obviously, we’re excited for the season, but this is a nice day for the community, for everyone to come out and it’s just nice to see everyone,” Shenendehowa senior outfielder Jason Clawson said.

“This is kind of a culmination of all the hard work they put in, with weight training, skill development and doing the right thing academically, and making good choices,” Christodulu said. “They see what’s on the horizon, which is only a few weeks away, when tryouts begin.”

In the past, now famed alumni like Ben and Ian Anderson, as well as Justin Yurchak, have returned to the breakfast for autograph signings and to give back to their old team even while at the pro-ball status. This time around they may not have been able to make the trip, but that doesn’t mean the Plainsmen aren’t still feeling the support from those that came before.

“They’ve got great memories and they experienced it and they know the positive impact that it had on their lives. They still buy tickets, they don’t come and eat, but they do still support us by buying a ticket and being here in spirit,” Christodulu said. “We’ve got a lot of alumni-parents that are still in the area, who come to see people that they experienced Shen baseball with.”

“Mr. Anderson (father) actually texted us this morning, wishing us good luck, because everyone who went through Shen baseball, experienced today and they know how exciting and fun it is and how supportive it is for the community.”

Where the team sees its biggest fans, however, is their very own ‘Dugout Club.’ The booster, a non-for-profit organization made up of current parents of Shenendehowa ball-players, works tirelessly, according to the team, to ensure the best for their boys, on and off the field.

“They cover everything from A to Z, to really enhance the overall experience for the players and they’re so supportive. They’re always there, whether it’s during the hot season of May when everyone’s dehydrated and they’re bringing us Gatorade, water and subs-(sandwiches) and things of that nature, and then the cookout, the family gatherings, Senior Day, they’d sponsor all that,” Christodulu. “They feed the other teams like Queensbury, Mamaroneck, so there’s so much that they do behind the scenes, that we don’t take for granted, but I’m sure people don’t realize all the things that they’ve done.”

The players have some ideas on how to repay them for their much appreciated, fundraising and support efforts.

“Honestly, winning a Sectional and maybe a State championship will do just that,” Clawson said.

“This gives them a bigger perspective of their importance, their role of playing baseball and representing something better than themselves,” said Christodulu.

While pancakes were on the menu before the Super Bowl, there was no debate as to what the team would be having when they watched the big game together. As is likely in many households across the country that celebrate the ‘unofficial’ holiday, there will be pizza, wings and other game day snacks.

The Plainsmen will be having some options at their table, however, that other Super Bowl Spreads will never be able to replicate.

“Mrs. Clawson makes a great buffalo dip, so I’ll definitely be having some of that,” said Redick with a laugh. “We’ll definitely have some boxes of pancakes to take home with us to.”