At Last! Sharp fielding, timely hitting, power Engineers to Victory #1 over Madison, 6-0

4/1/25

From Coach Nardiello: Happy days are here, again! Brooklyn Tech gets first win of the season by a 6-0 score and demonstrated a winning formula that to a man, they hope to continue.

Pitching and defense are keys to our winning, but that faltered across Tech’s first few games. Today was visibly different, as the team made many defensive plays all over the field. The team was sparked early and throughout the game by catcher Cooper Chung who threw out four base-runners (two at third base, and two for the final outs of innings!). Fellow sophomore Taiko Ninomiya got the pitching started and after an infield single and a walk in the 1st inning, clearly settled down confidently. Taiko did scatter 6 walks across his 5 innings, but never allowed a run. He trusted his defense, and it rose to the occasion behind him. For instance, left-fielder Andres Carson turned what was a clean, line-drive single into a force-out at 2nd base, by charging and throwing out the runner trying to advance. Taiko struck out 8 batters, battled throughout but was removed by Coach Joe Nardiello after 93 pitches.

Silas Hubbell pitched the final 2 innings, closing the game in commanding fashion and preserving the 6-0 shutout. He allowed just a hit-batter and struck out 2.

The game was tied for three innings, until the Engineers broke it open in the 4th inning (the only half-inning of the game when either team would score). Scott Manter-Goldberg singled on a hard grounder up the middle. Julian Ashley singled to the right side, sending Scott to third base. Julian promptly stole second base. Shrey Vertes reached first on a dropped third strike, as Scott threatened their defense by faking to race home on the throw to first base. With one out, Jake Rapoport walked for an RBI (he was walked three times during this game). Then, Trevor Nieuwenhuis broke the game open with a rocket single up the middle for 2 RBIs. He moved to second on the relay throw to the plate trying to get Shrey scoring from 2nd base. 3-0. Andres Carson walked to load the bases and Orion Rusk ran for him at first base.

Good things happen, when you put the ball in play. For example: Cooper Chung slapped a ball hard to shortstop, and Madison tried to turn an inning-ending double-play. But, the ball evaded their second-baseman on the flip and rolled 15 feet behind, scoring Jake easily from 3rd base–and surprisingly Trevor from second base (sent by Coach Joe, aggressively), who slid home for the run. The throw home allowed Orion to get to 3rd, and Cooper to hustle into 2nd base. Next batter, Jadon Renert hit a long fly to the outfield for a sac-fly RBI, and our scoring ended at 6-0.

But at last, our offense put the pressure on the other team.

Our Engineers look to do the same as next games are at Wagner HS and at Fort Hamilton, two schools that we have handled, historically. If we play this way, we may find ourselves with a winning streak.

Optimism.

This is what a win feels like. And winning makes the team feel great, as it should, for a job Well Done.