(note: post updated on Thursday 5/29 at 10:15am for clarity)
The #2 Rye Baseball team picked up win number 20 on the 2025 season in magical fashion on Wednesday, May 28, defeating the #3 Nanuet Golden Knights 9-5. Rye trailed 4-0 before they had a chance to bat, but forged back thanks to nine hits and five walks to complement exemplary relief pitching in a brilliant show of belief and resilience.
Rye started chipping away at the deficit right away, as Jamie Morris tripled in Nolan Hutson before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Charlie Rupp to cut the Nanuet lead to 4-2 in the first inning. The Knights went up 5-2 on a home run – the only blemish on Peter Davies’ final line – before Rye responded in the bottom of the fourth. Hutson and Morris both picked up 2-out RBIs to pull the Garnets within one at 5-4.
The turning point occurred in the top of the fifth inning, as Nanuet loaded the bases with one out and forced Head Coach Michael Bruno to make a pitching change. He brought in Rupp – his closer – who induced a 6-4-3 double play on one pitch. Rupp ended up earning the win with 2.2 innings of stellar relief on the back of Peter Davies’ 4.1 innings of one-run baseball.
Rye scored three times in the bottom half of the fifth, including a clutch 2-strike, 2-run single from Hutson to make it 7-5 Garnets, his third hit of the day. Rye would scratch out another two runs off a Harry Ellis RBI double and dead ball wild pitch to add insurance and leave no doubt, winning the game 9-1 from the bottom of the first inning onward.
The Garnets (20-4) will rematch Walter Panas high school for the Section 1 Class A championship game(s), starting at 10:00am on Saturday, May 31. Rye must defeat the Panthers twice in a row to clinch a league title, beginning with the contest Saturday morning. The game(s) will be played at Purchase College.
