Stuyvesant Hitmen 12, Graphic Communication Arts Devils 1

Going into their game against the Graphic Communication Arts Devils on Thursday, May 10, the Stuyvesant Hitmen were on a four-game streak, hot off a 4-0 win against the Devils on Tuesday, May 8. However, they would need to prevail again in order to defend their first-place ranking, just above the Beacon Blue Demons in the Manhattan A West Division standings.

In the top of first inning, senior and co-captain Evan Lubin walked a batter and gave up a single, leading to a run for the Devils. The Hitmen came up short at the plate in the bottom of the inning: the opposing pitcher needed only seven pitches to get the first three Stuyvesant batters out.

But starting in the second inning, Lubin helped turn the tides for the Hitmen. For the remainder of the game, he surrendered only one hit and struck out nine batters in total. “If I pitch like I did today, we will beat Beacon,” he said.

In the bottom of the second, the Hitmen got going on offense, as well. Senior Christopher Woo blasted a triple, and in the following at-bat, senior Erick Wong belted a two-run home run over the right fielder’s head, giving the Hitmen a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Stuyvesant continued to dominate in the third and fourth innings, in which they scored five and two runs, respectively, and extended their lead to 12-1. The game ended in the fifth inning, due to the ten-run mercy rule.

Prior to this game, the Hitmen had an issue with striking out too much, collectively averaging eight strikeouts per game. However, they were able to reverse the trend and have much smarter at-bats against the Devils, striking out only twice. They also benefitted from erratic pitching by the Devils and, as a result, drew 15 walks over the five innings of play.

“We had really good at-bats,” senior and co-captain Kyle Yee said. “We drew a lot of walks, got base-runners in, and we got clutch hits today.”

With the win, the Hitmen improved their overall record to 10-3. But their upcoming series will be challenging contests against the Blue Demons, who are just behind the Hitmen in second place. The Hitmen will then close out the season with a make-up game on Saturday, May 19 against the Manhattan Center for Math and Science Rams, a formidable opponent from the Manhattan A East division.

“We’ve been playing really, really well,” coach John Carlesi said. “It’s going to be a fun time against Beacon, and it looks like we’re going to be playing for first place.”