TBO 14U Red Bats awaken for victory over Tenafly.

“It’s alive!” TBO 14U Red’s offense, that is.

After very quiet showings against NEBAS League opponents Leonia and Woodcliff Lake, and then another frustrating offensive performance against their friends visiting from Highland Park, TBO Red’s bats finally woke up in the Sunday afternoon heat, driving the team toward a 13-8 victory over the neighboring Tenafly Tigers at Tenafly High School.

Teaneck got started right out of the gate. TBO 2B Jared Reich led off the game with a walk, and then P Ryan Buchsbayew reached on an error by Tiger SS Jackson Chang. SS Akiva Rotenberg then lashed a single to drive in the game’s first runs, and then scored himself on a hard single—the first of three hits and four RBI on the day—by C Isaac Kantowitz, who would later score on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, RF Abie Fields reached on an error, CF Michael Greenberg walked and 3B Joshie Rabitz drove home Fields with a single. LF Noah Lowe then drove home Greenberg with a hard groundout to second base. When the dust settled, Teaneck had staked itself to a 6-0 lead off Tenafly P Justin Kim, who battled each hitter in a tough inning.

Buchsbayew took the mound for TBO in the bottom half of the first. The Tigers kept their heads up and came out aggressive against Buchsbayew. CF Jaden Croce lined a single to right to lead off the game. After Chang grounded out to short, Kim drove a deep double to drive home Croce. Kim later scored on a single by 3B Raman Mitta, and the game started to look like a slugfest in the making. But Buchsbayew recovered, striking out 1B James Nadritch and EH Joe Cogan to shut down the inning.

TBO immediately grabbed one back in the top of the second, showing that they were not about to give this game away. Buchsbayew led off the inning with a single and then stole second. Rotenberg, who finished the day 2-3 with a walk and three RBI, followed with a double driven to left-center field to bring Buchsbayew home, making it 7-2. Then in the third, Fields led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild throw from Mitta at third, and then stole third base. Rabitz then delivered a frozen rope to right field to bring Fields home. TBO would add three more runs in the top of the fourth on RBI singles by Kantowitz, Jason Gamss and Fields, and two more in the top of the seventh on hits by Reich and Kantowitz.

Meanwhile, TBO handed the ball to Rotenberg to pitch the middle of the game. Rotenberg turned in another strong pitching performance, dominating the second and third innings and gutting out the fourth. He finished his three innings with two strikeouts and only one run allowed.

Rabitz took the hill for Teaneck over the final three innings. Uncharacteristically, Rabitz labored a bit to get TBO to the finish line. He surrendered a pair of runs in the fifth on a single by Tenafly’s Nadritch and a booming triple by Croce, who had three hits on the day. After a scoreless sixth, Rabitz then allowed three runs in the top of the seventh on hits by Chang and LF Nate Libien. But with TBO ahead by eight runs going into that final inning, these were runs Rabitz could afford to yield.

“I was actually very proud of Joshie’s effort today,” said coach David Greenberg. “Part of success in baseball is knowing the situation and adjusting your approach. Joshie knew he didn’t have his best stuff today, and he was feeling the afternoon heat a bit after four innings in the sun. But he fought hard, limited the walks, threw strikes and pitched to contact. That’s exactly what you need to do when you have a decent lead.”

With the win, Teaneck Red moved to 3-3, and increased the likelihood of a playoff berth. They will rematch with Cliffside Park/Fairview Thursday night at Overpeck Park, before finishing the regular season against crosstown rivals TBO “Black” on Memorial Day Sunday.

Immediately after the game, members of the team reunited at Tenafly’s nearby Roosevelt Commons, joining the rally in support of Israel being held there. “Baseball is important to us,” Greenberg later said. “But we’re part of a larger team, too, and with the news this past week, it was very important to show up for them today.”