Baseball Begins: State Champ Saints and Blue Streaks Score Early Wins

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Last year, two Saratoga Springs high school baseball teams won their first-ever state championships. The successful seasons were remarkable enough to warrant a downtown parade that concluded with mayoral proclamations on the steps of City Hall. This year, both teams are returning with their title-winning rosters largely intact.

For the Saratoga Catholic Saints, the season began disappointingly with a 5-0 shutout loss to Shaker. But the squad quickly rebounded with an 8-2 victory against Greenwich on April 13.

Against Shaker, outfielder Kihl Kelly had two hits and a walk and ended up being one of only three Saints to reach base. Starting pitcher Carson Moser faced 14 batters in 3 innings, striking out 8 of them while allowing 1 run. 

Against Greenwich, Kelly had another standout showing, hitting 2-3 with a triple and 2 RBI. Joey Lindner also went 2-3 with a double and an RBI, while Jason Pescetti hit 2-2 and scored a run. Starter Pierce Byrne earned his first win of the season, whiffing 11 batters and allowing just one run in 5 innings of work.

The Blue Streaks, meanwhile, also lost their season opener before notching 4-straight victories, including a gobsmacking 32-2 win against Averill Park on April 8. In that extraordinary contest, Saratoga collectively netted 24 hits, with seniors Jack Rigbar and Raul Rodriguez each earning 4 hits apiece.

After five games, five Blue Streaks have batting averages above .500. Brady Mills led his team early in the year with 12 hits and 4 doubles. Rigbar led in RBI (13), triples (2) and was one of two players to hit a homer.

On the mound, Brendan Kantscheidt has allowed just one earned run in 6.2 innings while also leading the team in strikeouts (10).  Also impressive in the early going: Max Sawicz has allowed one run in 6.2 innings, Shea Crotty allowed zero runs and 4 hits in 5.1 innings, and Michael Kakaty whiffed 6 batters and gave up 2 runs in 5 innings.