Warriors Rout Giants, Capture MSBL Title

The Deerfield Warriors 11 Gray baseball team captured the Mid Suburban Baseball League travel season championship on Sunday by defeating a strong team from Highland Park in the title game, capping off a 19-2-1 MSBL season and bringing the team’s overall record to 27-7-1.

The Warriors entered the pool-play portion of the playoffs with the second best overall record and continued their winning ways by going undefeated in the MSBL post-season.  The Warriors handily beat Lake in the Hills and PBI in pool-play before advancing, again as the two-seed, to the single elimination tournament.

The Warriors’ opened the tournament with a solid victory against the Schaumburg Flyers, sparked by strong defensive play in the outfield and timely hitting. Though Schaumburg mounted a furious comeback in the final inning, the Warriors were able to hang on in the end and close out the Flyers.  

That victory then put the Warriors in the semi-finals against Park Ridge. While the game was close early, 9-7 after 3 innings, the Warriors were able to pull away for 10 runs over the next two innings and complete the 19-7 victory.

That victory pushed the Warriors into the finals against top-seeded Highland Park, their cross-town rival and a team that had dealt the Warriors one of their only two losses. The Warriors had twice beaten Highland Park earlier in the season. This game, however, was never in doubt. Sparked by an early barrage of hitting the Warriors exacted their revenge against the Giants and clinched their first MSBL championship.

The Warriors 11U Gray team consists of Ben “Whiskey” Aaronson, Matt “Birty” Birtman, Adam “Chico” Bornstein, Zach “Fish” Fishman, Jonah “Frydo” Frydman, Bradley “Big Mac” McAvoy, Charlie “Nuke” McKinney, Matthew “Newms” Newman, Coby “Laces” Segal, Cory “Gee” Siegel, Colin “Moonshot” Ward, and Jack Sodikoff.  The Warriors are led by the dynamic coaching duo of Jake Katz and Landon Cohen.