Daniel Brickner began the year laid up in bed battling mononucleosis, unsure when – or if – he would return to the Fieldston baseball team. He made it back three weeks into the season and the senior pitched the second-seeded Eagles to their first NYSAISAA finals berth in program history.
“It’s been a pretty wild ride,” the uncommitted right-hander said.
Brickner went the distance, struck out six and allowed three hits as Fieldston topped No. 7 Rye Country Day School, 5-3, in the private school state semifinals Sunday at SUNY-Purchase. The Bronx school will face rival Poly Prep, the top seed and defending champion, in the finals Wednesday at Manhattanville College at 3:30 p.m.
“We got them at home this year, they got us at their place,” Brickner said. “Now we got a third matchup at a neutral field for everything. It’s really exciting.”
He added: “We’ve been fighting as a team the whole season. We feel like we’re a special team. We know we have the ability to win the championship.”
Matt Guzman added two hits and two RBIs, Dawit Heck had two hits and two stolen bases and Sam Jacobson drove in the go-ahead run in the third.
Brickner, who didn’t even travel to Florida with the team for spring training in March because of the illness, made his return in a 10-inning 8-7 win over Poly Prep Apr. 14. He quickly ascended to his spot atop the Fieldston rotation. He got better as the game went on against Rye. He retired the final 13 batters he faced after a slow start for his fifth victory of the year.
“It’s given us confidence when he goes out there because he’s going to put out a great effort,” Fieldston coach Tony Marro said. “When he’s on, not many people can hit him and he’s proven that. He’s a great pitcher and he really helps us.”
Marro, the third-year coach who was previously at Dalton and Friends Seminary, has elevated the Fieldston (16-3) program. It has never reached the NYSAISAA tournament two years in a row before his arrival – he has yet to miss it. Under his watch, the Eagles finished second this spring in the Ivy Prep League, their highest place in several years, and are the only team to beat dynamo Poly Prep over the last three seasons, doing so twice.
“A big part of the reason we are successful is the seniors have bought into what we’re doing, our philosophy,” Marro said. “The guys I had my first year, two years ago, they bought in and that’s created a waterfall effect.”
Poly Prep 2, Horace Mann 1: Phil Maldari drove in Morgan Gray with a triple to send Poly Prep to the NYSAISAA finals for the sixth straight year. Andrew Zapata picked up his team-leading sixth win in relief of Gray, Matt Coposio added two hits and Matt Zapata scored a run for the Blue Devils (19-4). Jesse Roth went 6-1/3 for Horace Mann (11-9) in defeat.