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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Poly Prep’s Rob Calabrese is used to winning. The star catcher ended his career the same way he ended each of his previous seasons — in a celebratory pile at Manhattanville College after winning a private school state title.
The top-seeded Blue Devils fought past No. 2 Rye Country Day 8–3 in the final on Wednesday afternoon in Purchase. It’s the Bay Ridge school’s unprecedented fourth-straight title. Calabrese, Morgan Gray, Christian Pellegrino and Andrew Zapata have been on all four of the championship teams.
“It’s incredible,” Calabrese said. “It’s what I wanted since freshman year and I got it — and it’s the best feeling in the world right now.”
It was fellow senior Pellegrino, who was two-for-three with two RBI and a walk, who put Poly Prep (21–3) up for good. He drilled a two-out, two-RBI double to left center to give his team a 5–3 lead in the fourth against Rye ace Tyler Fernandez. Pellegrino could see the pitcher tiring as the game went on.
“He started overthrowing,” Pellegrino said. “He left me a fastball right there.”
The Blue Devils added three more runs in the fifth off reliever Enzo Stefanoni thanks to a RBI single from Anthony Prato, a Patrick DeMarco sac fly, and an error to provide the final margin. Zapata went three-for-four with a run scored.
Another title looked in doubt in the early innings, but freshman starter Nick Storz, who pitched five-and-a-third innings, worked through some early nerves. He was able to navigate his way through three tough frames to allow just four hits, strike out four, and walk two.
Rye (14–9) scored twice in the first inning and threatened in the second, with runners on first and second with one out while holding a 2–1 lead. Calabrese was able to pick Matthew Webster off of second to help Storz get out of it unscathed.
“That was a big momentum stopper for them,” Storz said. “It gave us momentum going into the next inning.”
It was in the very next frame that Storz launched a 385-foot solo homer to left center to tie the score at 2–2. Rye scratched a run in the third on a pass ball, but Storz left Wildcats on second and third with two outs in the next inning. He got into trouble again in the sixth after retiring seven straight. Reliever Andrew Ehernberg came in relief to leave the bases loaded with one out.
“He absolutely battled,” Blue Devils coach Matt Roventini said of Storz. “We knew he was running out of steam in the end. He gave us everything he had and that’s all we asked.”
That is exactly what this team did all season. It won the school’s eighth-straight Ivy League title and its sixth state crown in the last eight years. Poly Prep plans on continuing to make this celebration an annual event.
“Winning never gets old,” Roventini said. “We hope to keep this going.”