The Yeshiva League championship took place on Sunday night June 20, and was a matchup between the Yeshiva League undefeated #1 seed Kushner Cobras squaring off against the Frisch Cougars. This was the third time in the last four seasons that these two teams faced off in the title game with Kushner claiming the 2017 crown and Frisch winning the title in 2018.

The atmosphere at Smith Field in Parsippany was electric as both crowds had a great turnout and were into the ball game from start to finish. The title game would be one that featured Frisch’s sophomore ace Jack Ruditzky matching up with Kushner star Ilan Cohen as the game’s starting pitchers.

The two aces dazzled in the first inning both going three up and three down with two strikeouts each. In the second inning, Ruditzky led off with a walk and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch plating the first run of the game and giving Frisch a 1-0 lead after the top of the second. Ruditzky had another 1-2-3 inning in the second, and Cohen coasted through the top of the third putting up another shutdown inning with the help of an amazing leaping catch by Kushner senior second baseman Eitan Kaynan.

Kushner struck back in the bottom of the third after a leadoff double by senior 3b/pitcher Eli Fishbein. Fishbein advanced to third on a productive ground ball out by senior left field/3b Max Orbach. That brought senior Ben Orbach rf/2b to the plate. After fouling a ball back, the four-year veteran executed a perfect suicide squeeze bunt scoring Fishbein to tie the game at 1-1 and firing up the crowd.

After a leadoff walk to start the Frisch fourth, Cohen gave way to Fishbein on the mound. After a sac bunt, David Siesser had an RBI single that gave Frisch a 2-1 lead in the fourth, swinging the momentum back to the Frisch side. Fishbein limited the damage there and got out of a second and third jam to keep the game at 2-1. This proved to be the difference in the game, as Fishbein would finish the game without allowing another Frisch run to score.

Kushner was able to take the momentum of escaping the jam and would fight back with their own run in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2. After a leadoff walk and stolen base, Cohen was able to come around to score by an RBI groundout by senior 1b/pitcher Jesse Koppel. Kushner would get a double from junior ss/p Jacob Shapiro but he would get stranded at third base, keeping the game tied 2-2 after four innings of play.

The fifth inning would prove to be the turning point of the 2021 championship game. Fishbein had a 1-2-3 top half of the fifth against the middle of the order for Frisch. After a huge strikeout on a nasty curveball Fishbein came off the mound fired up and the dugout and fanatic fans were amped up as well. The Kushner fifth started with the Orbach brothers doing some damage yet again. Max Orbach led off with a line drive single to left, followed up by another well placed bunt by Ben Orbach that was thrown away giving Kushner second and third with 0 outs in the 2-2 game. From here, the Kushner offense would go on to have their best half inning of baseball in program history. Kaynan laced a base hit to left, scoring Max Orbach giving the Cobras a 3-2 lead. Senior cf A.J. Keiser stepped to the plate and laced a line drive up the middle to plate another Cobra run making it 4-2. Kushner would receive RBIs from the next seven hitters in the lineup making the game 11-2. Cohen, Koppel, Shapiro, Nate Savitz, Fishbein, Max Orbach and Ben Orbach all had great at bats in the fifth inning adding on to the Kushner lead. Cohen would have his second hit of the inning with a booming double to give Kushner a 13-2 after an incredible 11 run fifth inning.

From here Fishbein settled into cruise control getting the final six outs without allowing a hit. With a man on third and one out, Fishbein got a line drive to third baseman Max Orbach who made a great catch and stepped on third to double up a Frisch runner, ending the game by a score of 13-2. From there the dog pile was on as Kushner celebrated its championship win.

The Cobras ended their fantastic season with a record of 10-1, including an undefeated 8-0 record in Yeshiva League play.

The Kushner Cobras 2021 team was led by eight graduating seniors.

C/p Ilan Cohen, 1b/p Jesse Koppel, p/3b Eli Fishbein, cf/1b Aj Keiser, 2b/of/p Ben Orbach, of/3b Eytan Mobilio, 2b/ss Eytan Kaynan, 3b/of/p Max Orbach.

Other key contributors for the Cobras were:

Juniors: ss/p Jacob Shapiro, c/of Nate Savitz, p/of Ethan Sinnreich, of Jack Helprin, of Josh Teich, of Sammy Maryles

Sophomore: of Ethan Hershenov

Coaches: Larry Canales, Matt Canales, Dave Ptalis.

Larry Canales is head coach of the RKYHS Cobras baseball team.