In a matchup of crosstown rivals, Teaneck TBO 10U defeated Teaneck Southern 11-1 in a mercy rule shortened four-inning game. With the victory, Teaneck TBO completes the regular season 8-0 as the only undefeated team in Northeast Bergen All-Stars (NEBAS) league. As the National Division top playoff seed, Teaneck TBO will host #4 seed Ft. Lee on Sunday, November 6, at Clubhouse. With the loss, Teaneck Southern completed the regular season 5-3 and will be the #4 seed in the American Division playoff. The rivalry brought out Teaneck township leadership including Mayor Jim Dunleavy and council members Karen Lew Orgen and Michael Pagan to see the action.

While TBO played host on Thursday night under the lights at Clubhouse Field, TBO was the visiting team for the game. TBO welcomed Southern to Clubhouse in the top of the first inning with their strong bats, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. David Wilbur started the scoring with a hard line-drive RBI single that brought Aiden Merkin across the plate. Caleb Block followed up with a fielder’s choice that drove in Shai Zaretsky to bring the score to 2-0. Avi Pasternak added a third run as he hit a line drive single to bring in Wilbur. With bases juiced, a good eye at the plate by Nate Tenzer brought Pasternak across the plate to bring the score to 4-0. Elan Rabbani’s and Aiden Merkin’s RBI singles scored David Siev and Noam Rabbani. Starting pitcher Avi Pasternak and the TBO defense picked up right where they left off in the bottom of the first inning with a strikeout, a great play at third base by Block, and catcher Zaretsky shutting down a stolen base attempt to third base. Jonas Victoria put Southern on the board with an RBI single to drive in Daniel Rosario as the first inning closed 6-1.

The next three innings continued with great performances in every facet of the game. Siev started the second inning with a deep RBI double to the outfield fence that scored Block. Southern’s relief pitcher Evan Perez held TBO to one run in the second inning as he struck out three TBO batters. TBO took Southern down with a 1-2-3 second inning with two Pasternak strikeouts and a phenomenal catch of a hard-hit line drive by second baseman Elan Rabbani. Rabbani also brought TBO’s eighth run across the plate with heads up base-running as he continued to home plate on an error in Southern’s catcher’s attempt to throw him out as he stole third base. Siev came in to pitch the third inning and retired the side on his own with two strikeouts and a catch of an infield pop fly. Tenzer started the fourth inning with a line drive double to left field that advanced Siev to third base. Merkin followed with an RBI single to bring in both runners, and a Block bases-loaded walk brought the score to 11-1. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Victoria added a bunt single to get both of Southern’s hits on the night. Siev added three more strikeouts in the fourth inning to close out TBO’s 11-1 victory.

Teaneck TBO finished the season outscoring opponents 137-27 across their eight games, five of which were mercy-rule shortened. TBO pitching only gave up 19 hits during the regular season and struck out 77 of 196 batters faced. Pasternak led TBO pitchers with 24 strikeouts in 14 innings pitched, giving up only five runs. Siev and Wilbur added 18 strikeouts each across 9.2 and eight innings pitched respectively, and Block recorded 10 strikeouts. Wilbur led Teaneck hitters with a.652 batting average on 15 hits including three home runs, two triples and five doubles while driving in 25 runs. TBO was also powered by strong batting performances from Zaretsky (.636 avg), Block (.538 avg) and leadoff batter Merkin (.478 avg) who led the team with 20 runs scored. Catchers Zaretsky and Benjamin Chetrit added to TBO’s phenomenal defensive play as each caught two runners stealing base.

Teaneck TBO 10U hosts Ft. Lee in the first round of the NEBAS playoffs this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at Clubhouse Field at Votee Park! Come out and support the boys as they battle for the NEBAS championship!