Crusaders baseball wins home opener

On Saturday, March 21 at Monroe Woodbury High School, the Crusaders opened their 2026 season as they hosted the Bulldogs of Beacon. Senior Braeden Burke started the game for the Crusaders and struck out five of the first six batters he faced. The right-handed hurler went five innings allowing one hit and one earned run as he struck out 13. In the bottom of the first Crusader Jeremy Lai singled and scored when Joshua Konior doubled to left.

The Bulldogs answered back in the third and tied the score on a sacrifice fly to center after a triple to right-center. In the top of the sixth Asher Fateman came in to relive Burke. Asher closed the door on the Bulldogs as he pitched three innings of shutout baseball while striking out three.

In the top of the seventh the Bulldogs threatened with a man on second with no outs. That was when Crusader sophomore catcher Joey Bauer picked off the Bulldog runner with a perfect throw down to second to beat the runner back to the bag. Finally in the eighth, Michael Monda singled to center followed by a single to left by Lai which brought Konnor to the plate. Konior hit a slow roller in front of the plate which the Bulldog catcher picked up and threw down to first. His throw appeared to bounce off Konior’s helmet and ricochet into right field as Monda raced home from second base to give the Crusaders an extra inning 2-1 victory. The Crusaders will scrimmage New Paltz on Monday at home.