My tweet was all typed out and ready to be sent, but I should have known better.
I was a finger tap away from posting that the Poly Prep baseball team had beaten Berkeley Carroll 4–1 with starter Morgan Gray quickly recording the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Boy, did things change in a hurry in the latest chapter of Brooklyn’s best high school baseball rivalry.
Berkeley Carroll proceeded to double twice to get another run and chase Gray from the game. It got within 4–3 when Ian Miller came home on a balk and the Lions had a chance to win the game, but Will Regan’s potential walk-off single against Nick Storz landed just foul. The Blue Devils held on for the 4–3 victory on Monday at MCU Park.
“The baseball Gods gave us one on that one,” Poly Prep coach Matt Roventini said.
The rest of us got to enjoy another fabulous game in this great rivalry. Storz said there was a lot of trash talking before the contest and the emotion was palpable during the game. Any run was treated like the winning one and a close final frame had the feeling of an elimination game.
“It’s a great game every time we play them,” Miller said. “I think there is a lot of mutual respect there. They have been successful the last couple of years. They have a lot of good players, but at the same time we think we can beat them on any given day.”
The Lions took last season’s regular season 1–0 behind a gem from Miller, but the Blue Devils one-upped Berkeley Carroll with a semifinal victory over the Lions on its way to claiming its third-straight private school state title. Berkeley Carroll beat Poly Prep for its first state title in 2009 and the Blue Devils returned the favor in the 2011 championship game.
“This rivalry is real,” Gray said. “It’s sad that I’m not going to have it anymore when I leave, so I’m trying to get as much out of it as I can.”
There’s a good chance this won’t be the last time these two teams meet each other this season, and that is a good thing for any Brooklyn baseball fan. Depending on how the seeding works out, the two squads are likely on a collision course in this year’s post season. They hope it is with the title on the line. The winner of that one would earn the true bragging rights.
“It’s bigger if we beat them the next time we see them because last year they got one against us, but we got the last one, the most important.” Roventini said. “This one’s big, but the big picture is if we see them again to get that one.”
