Senior LJ Renshaw went five strong innings to pick up the win for Indian Hills, which opened its season with a 4-1 win on the road at Dumont.
DUMONT—To the rest of North Jersey, last season’s Indian Hills baseball team came out of nowhere to be one of the best public school clubs in Bergen County. With a tight-knit group of 11 seniors that came through the pipeline together, the Braves, judging by the seeds of the Bergen County Tournament where it reached the quarterfinals, were the sixth best team in Bergen County.
If Indian Hills is to do it again, it will have to be in similar fashion. Starting over with an almost entirely new crew with a familiar backstory, the Braves are now 1-0 after a 4-1 win in their season opener on Tuesday in Dumont.
“We have been with Coach [George] Hill forever. We went to his baseball camp when we were young. We all know each other and we all played travel ball together growing up,” said junior Ben Piotrowski, who steps in this season as Indian Hills’ starting right fielder and cleanup hitter. “This program is all about chemistry. We are together all the time and we been playing ball together since we were young and it’s kind of like it is our turn.”
Piotrowski’s first turn at bat in the new season was a decisive one. With two on and one out he stroked a two-run single to score LJ Renshaw and Dylan Biernacki to give the Braves a lead that they would not relinquish.
Jarrett Carramusa had a hit and stole two bases for Dumont.
Renshaw, a three-year starter at catcher, came out from behind the plate to throw 5 innings of one-run, one-run baseball to pick up the win and Kenny DeFeo, who missed all of last season due to injury, pitched two scoreless frames to close out the Braves’ first win of the year.
Renshaw, one of the few holdovers from last season’s starting lineup, is surrounded by a new cast and has new responsibilities, but sees the same potential.
“It’s definitely different and then right after the first week of tryouts we had one pitcher [junior Joe Marrara] go down with a UCL tear. We have a much small roster this year, it’s like 11 healthy guys right now, so we all knew we were going to have step up and play multiple parts,” said Renshaw (5 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 5 K, 3 BB, W). “So as soon as I was told that I was getting the ball, no questions asked. Just be a team player, grab a ball and figure it out when you get out there.”
Renshaw also got the Braves going offensively. Batting leadoff, he drew a game-opening walk to set the table for the first inning rally. Dumont starter, senior right-hander Joey Sutera, settled in after that and Dumont got back to within a run when Matt Mertz was waved home from third on a balk call to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the second, but Renshaw limited the damage in that frame and every other time he got into trouble.
Junior Ben Piotrowski had three hits and drove in three runs in his first start as Indian HIlls' clean up hitter.
Dumont drew eight walks in the game and had at least one runner on base in every inning, but Renshaw stranded six of them through his five innings and four of them in scoring position. DeFeo (2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 3 BB, S) worked around one and two-out walks in the sixth and allowed the first two runners to reach base in the seventh before closing it out with a double play ground ball and a strikeout.
Indian Hills’ calling card in its 19 wins in 2024 was its defense and on Tuesday there was more of the same. The Braves turned four double plays and committed just one error and that came against the first hitter they faced this season in the bottom of the first inning.
“We are young. We have four sophomores [Tyler Babaian, Matt O’Shaughnessy, Jack Birrer and Justin Talamini] on the field and then Ben [Piotrowski and Ryan [Hurley] are juniors are juniors playing varsity for the first time,” said Indian Hills head coach George Hill. “That is the way it goes here and like I say every year, we have great kids that love baseball and work hard and I know they are going to battle.”
Sutera (6 IP. 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 K, BB), a William Paterson commit, threw 90 pitches in his six innings of work and finished strong by striking out the last two hitters he faced. Aidan Ramos threw a scoreless seventh inning for the Huskies (0-1), who will look for win No. 1 on Wednesday against Paramus.
Piotrowski (3-for-3, 3 RBI, 2B) had three hits to pace the Braves’ offense. Renshaw (1-for-2, R, BB), Biernacki (1-for-2, 2 R, SB, HBP), and Jake Esak (1-for-3, RBI) had the other hits for Indian Hills, which has scheduled tough to get ready for league play. DePaul and Passaic County Tech are next up with Birrer scheduled to make his first varsity start.
“I am really anxious to see Jack tomorrow,” said Hill of the sophomore right-hander. “He has a lot of upside and we are really, really high on him and this whole team, really and we are happy to get going.”
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT CLICK HERE! TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
