Storm Baseball traveled to NYC on Wednesday evening to face the Heschel Heat in the first round of the playoffs. After narrowly clinching a postseason berth, the Storm entered the playoffs hungry for a fresh start and their first championship in six years. TABC’s offense came out swinging, putting early pressure on the Heat but struggling to land the first big blow, stranding several runners in scoring position over the first few innings. On the mound for TABC was Shaya Bodner ‘26, making his highly anticipated return from injury. Bodner delivered, holding the Heschel lineup in check with a dominant performance. The breakthrough for the Storm finally came in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Shia Forgash ‘25 hit a slow roller back to the mound that resulted in a throwing error, bringing in the game’s first two runs. Etai Berkovits ‘27 followed with an RBI single, and Michael Greenberg ‘25 added an infield RBI hit, extending the Storm’s lead to 4-0. Bodner stayed locked in, racking up 12 strikeouts. His biggest came in the fifth inning, when he struck out a Heat batter with the bases loaded and two outs to end the threat. Sammy Levine ‘25 took over in relief, tossing two scoreless innings. Ezra Epstein ‘25 capped off a perfect night at the plate, going 3-for-3 with an RBI. The Storm secured a 5-0 shutout and now advance to the semifinals, where they’ll face the SAR Sting.