HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Shen wins Battle for I-87 on Curtis’ walk-off (2024)

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. — After defeating rival Saratoga Springs, every player on the Shenendehowa baseball team celebrated with a piece of the action.

Third baseman Brad Curtis wore the team’s bright-green, World Championship belt. Starting right-handed pitcher R.J. Ensel put on the comically oversized, ‘Shenendehowa’ baseball cap. Center fielder Amaar Bhusri brought home a copy of the game’s lineup card.

Above all, as comes with the rivalry, the entire Plainsmen team enjoyed the I-87 Cup, awarded after the 2-1, walk-off victory.

“That’s priceless. It creates a family. Like honestly, it creates a family, gets us going, and gets us together,” Ensel said on the win. “It just helps us as a team.”

After being blanked all afternoon, going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Plainsmen plated two across the final two frames, capped off by the game-winning bases-loaded single from Curtis.

“Just tried to get a good pitch and drive it. My coaches and teammates put me in a great position and my teammates just worked super hard and we grinded the whole game; it just so happened to roll out that way and we’ll take it,” Curtis said.

“It’s a great win and we just keep buying into the plan. We have some of the best coaches in New York State, let alone the United States, and I think we just got to keep buying in to the plan,” he continued. “My teammates have worked extremely hard and we just got to keep stacking the wins and keep going.”

“He’s a dog,” Ensel said of his third baseman. “His clutch factor is insane; game after game he’s like our best hitter. Every single game he comes to play.”

While Curtis’ heroics earned him the title belt, Ensel got his prize for a gritty, complete game performance on the bump. In the top of the second, Ensel surrendered singles to three of the first four batters faced to start the frame, the final from Brady Mills plating the first run.

After that, Ensel shoved for five scoreless innings, most of which from behind, allowing one more hit, finishing with five strikeouts and one walk.

“My goal is just: attack the zone, make our defense work. And they made every single play; I don’t think they made a single error. So I just attack the zone, attack the hitters,” Ensel explained.

“He’s one of our guys, man. We know what we’re gonna get from him, he’s a great pitcher, great guy and I think that we’re confident when he’s on the mound,” Bhusri added of the team’s starter.

Bhusri’s role proved to be an energy shifter. In the top of the sixth inning, the centerfielder’s diving grab in the right field gap robbed Blue Streak senior Patrick McKinley of an extra-base hit with two outs.

“I think it definitely gave us some momentum, gave us some more life and I think that was just a part of it. Just one part of all this stuff that happened today,” Bhusri remarked on the grab.

“Plays like that – Amaar went out and got that one – coach always tells him, ‘go be a ball hog in centerfield,’ and it strikes a bunch of momentum for us,” Curtis added. “It kind of shifted the momentum and just really got us going and excited and ended up working out in the end.”

Bhusri led off the bottom of the inning with a single and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly from Ian Oehlschlaeger.

The momentum may have swung towards the Plainsmen even before the catch and rally, as after senior Blue Streaks’ right-hander Michael Mack had twirled 4.2 innings scoreless, with seven strikeouts, he was pulled in the bottom of the fifth inning in some clear discomfort.

“Mack is a great player. You never want to see that,” Curtis said. “Injuries are terrible. We never want to see that.”

Charlie Greiner entered in Mack’s place but Saratoga never quite got its offense reignited and faltered down the stretch, relinquishing the trophy to Shenendehowa.

The Plainsmen last beat the Blue Streaks in 2023’s Sectional Class AA Championship, Best of Three series, at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, after losing both games in the regular season series, by a combined 15-6 score. Friday’s meeting marked the ninth since the start of the 2022 season between the two well-accomplished, fiercely competitive sides.

“The intensity is pretty much the same all the time. Saratoga is a great team, they’re well coached and it’s always a great game when we play them and we enjoy playing against them,” Curtis said. “It’s back and forth.”

“We all knew this was the biggest game,” Ensel added. “It’s the I-87 Cup, that means a lot to us, it’s a Sectional rematch; it’s a huge game and the energy was there from the start.”

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Shenendehowa 2, Saratoga Springs 1

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SHEN;0000011;— ;2;10;0

Blue Streaks- Rigabar 1B, R, BB; Mack 1B; Mills 1B, RBI; Collier 1B; Betit SB. PITCHING: Mack 4.2, 4H, BB, 7K; Greiner (L) 1.2, 2R, 5H, BB, 3K; Rossi 0.0, H.

Plainsmen- Marszalek 2B, 1B, SB; Bhusri 1B, R, 2xBB; Curtis 3x1B, RBI; Clawson 1B; Williams 1B; Oehlschlaeger SAC, RBI; Cronin 1B, Mello 1B. PITCHING: Ensel (W) CG, R, 4H, BB, 5K.