AVERILL PARK, N.Y. — Schuylerville senior outfielder Lukas Sherman said there were no April Fools Day jokes in the lead-up to Monday’s season-opener, simply genuine happiness starting a new season.
After the Horses picked up a 7-2 win on the road, at Averill Park, however, Sherman said it was fair game on the bus ride home.
“I’ll probably make sure I hit ‘em on the bus ride home,” Sherman said with a laugh.
The Horses weren’t fooling by any means before loading up the bus to head back to Schuylerville, as starting pitcher Brenden Steinberg went five innings, allowing one run and one walk, with three strikeouts.
“I think he was a pounding the zone with three pitches, keeping them off balance, and that’s what it’s all about and he did a really good job,” Schuylerville head coach Darrin Renner said, postgame on Steinberg hitting his spots.
The veteran righty was backed by small ball, as the Horses drew nine walks, stole three bases, and tallied seven hits.
“That’s something we really preach more in the cage and working on things, is the execution and understanding your role and getting things done and it’s gotta be one through nine,” Renner explained.
“We executed. We did everything we had to do, got the bunts down all day long, stole the bases when we needed to. So, we’re very, very happy with that start,” Renner added.
“I love how we were being pesky hitters in there, kind of working counts; that’s what we’re going to need to do this year because, in high school baseball, you’re not going to have a lot of power hitters,” Sherman said, postgame.
The game was tied at one through the opening three innings, as Jackson Dunbar plated the first run for Schuylerville with a two-out, RBI-double in the top of the second. Warriors’ utility man Daniel Borton responded in the bottom half of the frame with a run-scoring single.
In the fourth frame, the Horses started to widen the gap, as five reached base, with three scoring via a sac-bunt from Ben VanVeghton, and RBI singles from Trevor French and Alex Renner.
Steinberg slammed the door on a Warriors’ response on a mere five pitches.
“I think [Steinberg] did a good job of keeping us off balance and then when we did sting it pretty good, his defense made some big plays. They ran two down in the gap, that were big, they turned a double-play, the shortstop [Griffin Brophy] made two nice plays early on in the game,” Averill Park head coach George Brooks said postgame.
Schuylerville tacked on another in the top of the fifth frame, increasing its lead to 5-1, after Josh Merrill scored on a wild pitch.
Sherman wore a pitch in the top of the sixth, with the bases loaded, and Steinberg grounded out a batter later to plate the seventh run.
Averill Park’s James Consula went 3 1/3 in the opening day start, allowing five runs, before senior left-hander Timothy Koval toiled 1 2/3 in relief, yielding two runs, and striking out two.
Anthony Decker closed out the final two innings scoreless, for the best Warriors’ outing in the season opener.
“That’s encouraging. I mean, anytime you put somebody on the mound, you want him to go out there and execute. So again, that’s why early in the season, you try to get as many guys out there as you can and Anthony’s a guy that we’re certainly going to have to lean on, especially if he’s going to continue to throw like that, but he was great,” Brooks said postgame on Decker’s ability to keep hitters off balance.
It’s only game one of the 2024 baseball season and both clubs have a recent history of success winning down the stretch – each reaching State Championship games two years ago. Brooks, who coached the Warriors to a Class A title that season, saw what needs improvement.
“I think the biggest eye-opener though, honestly, is we need to find leadership. This is a new senior class and we’ve had great senior classes and great leadership; this senior class has gotta step up and I didn’t see that today from them,” Brooks noted.
As for the Horses, it didn’t take any holiday pranks to provide Sherman with a positive outlook.
“I love this vibe from our group. At the start of the year, there maybe were not a lot of expectations. But then we kind of started practicing, kind of seeing what the young guys can do and I feel like we have [a] good blend of youth guys, along with our veterans,” Sherman added. “So, if we figure out a way to put that together, it could be something special.”
