On a cold, blustery opening day of the 4th grade Jericho Baseball League, the Sheft Kahn Yankees defeated the Island Wide Medical Dodgers by the score of 13-3. Josh Besserman went the distance for the Yankees and was brilliant in limiting the Dodgers to three runs on only five hits. Besserman worked out of bases-loaded jams in each of the first four innings and recorded eight strikeouts, most of them in clutch situations.

The Yankees led off the scoring in the top of the first on singles by Scott Weinberger (3 for 3, three RBIs) and Brian Harris (2 for 2, two RBIs, two runs). The Dodgers tied it up in the bottom half of the first with Justin Dorman's RBI walk. Both teams scored a run in the second inning and the Yankees added two more in the top of the third on key hits by John Goldsmith and Weinberger.

Andrew Mlotock pitched terrifically for the Dodgers and kept his team in the game until the Yanks broke it open with four runs in the fourth inning. Brian Harris led off with a single, and Daniel Schneider walked. The runners moved up on an infield out and then Adam Kronengold hit a two-run double to make the score 6-2. Matt Loeb (2 for 3, one RBI, two runs) and Brett Novick followed with run-scoring singles to help their team increase the lead. The Dodgers scratched out a run in the bottom of the fourth on a singles by Eric Reitman nd Mlotock (2 for 4).

The Yankees turned it on offensively in the last two innings on hits by Weinberger, Brian Kahn and Besserman (2 for 3, two RBIs), while Harris Moore, Chris Kraly, Evan Kirchblum and Harris Khan all drew timely walks. Besserman got better as the game went on and actually retired the last seven Dodgers in a row. The Dodgers had nice efforts for Michael Marinelli (one hit, two BB), Corey Holtzman (one hit, one BB), Jonathan Weinstein (two BB), Lucas Paley (pitched two strong innings), Matt Tarasoff (great shortstop play), Adam May, Danny Cacciola and Brandon Freiberg.

The Sheft Kahn Yankees raised their record to 2-0 by defeating the North Shore Day Camp Marlins by the score of 9-6 in a terrifically-played game on Sunday, April 18. Brian Harris of the Yankees and Ethan Hoch of the Marlins both urned in wonderful complete game-pitching performances.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning as the Marlins broke out on top with two runs. Adam Toporovsky led off with a walk. David Cohen followed with an RBI single, and with two men out, Hoch came through with a run-scoring double.

The Yankees struck back with three big runs in the fourth inning to go up 3-2. Harris Khan (2 for 2, two runs) and John Goldsmith (2 for 3, two runs) led off with consecutive singles and Scott Weinberger crushed a three-run homer to deep centerfield. Hoch then settled down to retire the next three batters.

The Marlins charged right back with four runs in the top of the fifth. Max Rosenberg and David Cohen singled and, after an RBI-groundout by Jared Bookman, Hoch singled home another run and Adam Hyams laced a liner to deep right field for a two-run dinger. Adam Feinstein (2 for 3) singled sharply but was left stranded as Brian Harris retired the next two batters.

Trailing 6-3, the Yankees came from behind for the second time by scoring three times on Chris Kraly's huge three-run homer. Josh Besserman and Matt Loeb singled before Kraly (2 for 2) hit the round-tripper to knock them in. With the score now tied at six, Brian Harris was brilliant in striking out the side in the top of the sixth inning to bring his strikeout total to 13. In the bottom of the sixth, Harris Kahn and John Goldsmith singled to set the stage for Scott Weinberger. Weinberger came through once again and powered his second three-run homer of the game to deep right center to win the contest for the Yanks.

The Yanks had strong performances from Daniel Schneider (1 for 2), Brian Kahn (deep fly ball to center), Adam Kronengold (r ), Evan Kirchblum, Brett Novick and Harris Moore. Matt Loeb caught a great game, keeping pitcher Brian Harris in rhythm. The Marlins turned in great efforts from Kenny Greenblatt (great catch in deep center), John Nia, Adam Lamm, Adam Duchene and Lee Freilich.