Saugerties 1- FDR 2
It didn’t take long for the character of this baseball team — and, perhaps, the tenor of its season — to be revealed.
Being down nine runs late, on the verge of being mercy ruled in the season opener, surely will bring forth some frustration or skepticism.
It could also show just how for-real a group is about the baseball bromides that are often used. Common sayings like, “It’s not over until the last out” will get put to the test there.
“I’d be lying if I said I thought we could come back and win that game,” Franklin D. Roosevelt coach Kory VanZandt said. “We’ve never had a comeback from down that many before. But the mood in the dugout didn’t dip and these guys were still locked in and cheering for each other. That was encouraging.”
Even more encouraging was the Presidents actually coming back to win that game, rallying for 10 runs in the final two innings to stun Pine Bush, 16-15, on April 3.
Marco Finocchi’s two-run single tied it and James Cook scored from third on an errant throw for the go-ahead run.
Owen Pacchiana admitted that he and a few teammates did at one point concede to themselves, “This isn’t our day,” particularly when Pine Bush had a runner on third in the fifth inning, threatening a 10-run lead that would’ve ended the game via mercy rule. It was VanZandt first, Cook said, who was “getting everyone revved up.”
Once Roosevelt stranded that runner and erupted for six runs in the sixth, there was an infusion of optimism and energy. They believed then that something special could be accomplished.
Now, a month later, that belief has been reinforced a few times over. The Presidents won nine of their first 11 games, looked dominant in several of them, and there’s a pervading thought now that something special will be achieved this season.
“Without that comeback, I don’t think we’d be in the position we’re in now,” VanZandt said. “For that to have happened in our first game, it gave everyone confidence early and instilled that mindset that we’re truly never out of it.”
That always sounds good when it’s said in pregame speeches, but when a team has proven it and given itself a tangible example to point to going forward, the rah-rah becomes real.
“I’ve never won much before in baseball, so this season is awesome,” said Cook, an outfielder. “Things are looking great and everyone is putting the team before themselves.”
The coach has lauded the unselfishness of this group and the quiet maturity of the 14 seniors on the roster.
That helps, of course, but the Presidents also have benefit from their drop to a smaller classification. With a dip in enrollment, Roosevelt’s teams were moved from Class AA to Class A this school year. That, VanZandt said, “was huge.”
Roosevelt often was the smallest Class AA school in Section 9, just barely meeting the student enrollment threshold for the largest classification in the state. That put its teams at a disadvantage, competing with opponents that had a larger talent pool to draw from and significantly more depth. The Presidents last season lost in the first round of the Class AA playoffs to Warwick, the eventual section runner-up.
(For what it’s worth, they did exact a level of revenge with a 4-2 win over Warwick earlier this season.)
The Presidents' two losses have come to Arlington and John Jay-East Fishkill, both Class AA contenders in Section 1. They followed the loss to Arlington last week with a 2-1 victory over Saugerties, a perennial power in Class A.
Roosevelt’s girls basketball team is the squad that has made the most of the change in classification, thus far, surging through Class A in the playoffs and winning its first section title since 1987. They got as far as the regional final.
“Seeing them accomplish that,” Cook said, “I think it’s motivated our whole school. Everybody is proud of them and the other teams are like, ‘We want that kind of success for ourselves.’”
helps, too, having a more senior-laden roster than VanZandt can remember having in his 11 years. With 14 seniors, the coach said, there is an established leadership and a “familiarity and comfort” with each other. The coaching staff already understood each player’s strengths and potential roles, which helped them “hit the ground running.”
From the players’ perspective, the roster makeup also enhanced the significance of this season. For the majority of them, there is a sense of "now or never."
“Having this many seniors, there’s more urgency,” Pacchiana said. “It’s probably a once in a lifetime thing for us to have so many guys together, in the same situation, knowing we have an opportunity to do something big and go out with a bang.”
Finocchi has emerged as their ace, a former relief pitcher who has come into his own as a starter. Pacchiana also has excelled on the mound. But it has been Roosevelt’s offense, with a dangerous and thorough lineup, that has led the way.
Justin Patsey has a better than .500 on-base percentage and Jaden DeLawder, batting third as a sophomore, has lashed line drives to all fields with his powerful lefty swing. Ron Vespe and Conor Harris, the table-setters atop the line, “have been consistent and gotten us going,” said VanZandt said, whose team has averaged 9.7 runs per game.
Dylan Merritt also has been productive, Joe Felipe is a defensive stalwart in centerfield, and Tyler Landolfi’s versatility in catching and playing the outfield has opened up creative possibilities with the lineup.
But a wealth of talent, the coach said, can often lead to a fixation on stats or even gripes from players yearning to get on the field more — seniors, especially. That hasn’t been the case, though.
“I have some players right now that should be starting,” VanZandt said. “But we have so many guys playing well there aren’t as many opportunities to get people in. You could have guys chirping or complaining about that, but we don't.”
That, the players insisted, is part of the altruism that has allowed them to flourish. It includes the seniors — captains, even — willingly lugging equipment to the field before practice and games, and cleaning the dugout afterwards.
“You don’t always see that; it’s kind of rare,” Pacchiana said of the selflessness, “but everyone is buying in to the potential we have. We all have that belief in what we can do, and everyone wants to be a part of it.”
A Mid-Hudson Athletic League title and a Section 9 championship is the “it” he was referring to, goals the team believes are realistic for itself. Roosevelt won a MHAL title in 2017, but a section championship would be the program's first.
“It's definitely possible," Cook said. "This team has a chance to capture MHAL and sectionals, and maybe win some more games after that."
And who can tell them otherwise?