Peglegs Show Promise Despite Losses Without Star Outfielder

“I always tap the plate three times before each pitch and if it’s full count, I take three practice cuts,” said senior Michael Gillow, a member of Stuyvesant’s varsity baseball team, the Peglegs. For more than three seasons now, this simple ritual has been the calling card for the tall, lanky outfielder. Though he has made variations over the years, Gillow has used this process at the plate to stay both zoned in and relaxed, something that has apparently paid dividends.

When he was a freshman on the junior varsity team, Gillow batted leadoff and batted .471 with a double and seven runs batted in—the highest statistic among freshmen in all three categories. The following year, Gillow began to hit with even greater power, racking up four extra-base hits while driving in 16 runs. Now, this season, having finally earned a spot on the varsity team’s starting lineup, Gillow has again become the team’s most dominant offensive contributor.

With two home runs through just six games and hits in five of those games, Gillow currently leads the Peglegs with a .632 slugging percentage. Gillow does not look to be slowing down after he tallied another hit for Stuyvesant during the team’s 3-2 win over the John Adams High School’s Spartans on April 18. As such, when Gillow was due to miss the following two games due to a college visit, it was a cause for significant apprehension, especially with the currently 5-1 Cardozo High School Judges second on the docket.

The potential offensive struggles somewhat came to fruition in the first game without Gillow, a 6-2 loss to Francis Lewis High School, who are currently just 3-3, as the Peglegs struck out a total of 11 times against a duo of pitchers that some players described as underwhelming. However, there was no shortage of scoring opportunities, given that the Peglegs totaled nine hits, three walks, and one hit batter. This amounts to an average of just under two baserunners per inning, meaning that the Peglegs had bountiful scoring opportunities but were simply unable to capitalize.

This speaks less to a lack of a dominating presence in the heart of the order (namely, Gillow) and more to a lackadaisical approach at the plate that did not go unnoticed. “We weren’t fired up enough, and we weren’t taking aggressive swings,” senior Simon Carmody said when asked what head coach John Carlesi seemed most upset by after the game.

However, that is not to say that the game was entirely devoid of bright points. Sophomore Franklin Liou, for instance, emerged at the plate in a major way with three hits in three at-bats, including a double—the Peglegs’ first extra-base hit since Gillow’s double against Newtown High School on April 9. That hit also marked the first extra-base hit by a sophomore on Stuyvesant’s varsity team since junior Malcolm Hubbell’s double against Norman Thomas on May 4, 2017. Considering that Hubbell is now batting .400, which is exceptional, especially for a junior, the future looks bright for the blossoming Liou.

While the Peglegs’ following game ended in a 3-2 loss to Benjamin Cardozo High School, it is difficult to describe it as a disappointment at all. Naturally, it had its low points. According the senior and captain Max Onderdonk, many of the Peglegs’ proverbial wounds were self-inflicted. “There were baserunning errors, and [sophomore] Owen [Potter] started off wild,” Onderdonk said. On top of that, the Peglegs had to leave school two periods early to travel an insane distance—the length of the Queens-bound F line followed by a 30-minute bus ride further into Queens—only to have the game end with the Judges walking off on them in the bottom of the seventh inning. However, through all the chaos and late-game tumult, the Peglegs still managed to show tremendous promise against one of the city’s best pitchers, senior Mathew Miller.

Going into the game against the Peglegs, Miller had gone 4-0 through his first four starts, pitching 21 ⅓ innings without giving up a single earned run. While the Peglegs could not get the best of Miller, they still managed to tag him for his first earned run, as well as nearly double his season hit total, taking Miller from 10 to 19 total hits allowed. Furthermore, numerous promising players continued their growth against Cardozo. Liou again played a major role in the offense, slapping a single and going on to steal two bases.

Onderdonk, meanwhile, broke out of a short hitting slump with two hits, including a double, over three at-bats, driving in one of the Peglegs’ two runs. This performance is especially notable for multiple reasons. Firstly, Onderdonk recognized that he had been playing poorly of late. “I’ve been struggling a lot as a hitter,” he said.

Onderdonk has also been attributing many of his times reaching base to good fortune. “I get on with walks and errors a lot, so I’ve been lucky so far. Hopefully that continues,” he said. More notably, though, it showed a rare display of power from the slender center fielder, as that double represents just the third extra-base hit of Onderdonk’s Stuyvesant career.

Looking ahead, the Peglegs have a chance to get back into the win column with a home-and-home series coming up against the Norman Thomas Tigers. Last year, the Peglegs managed to dispatch the Tigers handily, winning 7-2 and 9-3 over the teams’ two skirmishes. This season, the Tigers are struggling mightily, having started 1-5 with their only win coming against winless William Cullen Bryant High School, but are not to be scoffed at, given how unpredictable high school play can be. The real marquee matchup, however, will be the following week, when the Peglegs play their annual series against the rival Beacon High School Blue Demons, with games on May 2 and May 4. With Beacon currently undefeated (6-0), the Peglegs will need their offense to be at full strength, from Gillow down to Hubbell, Onderdonk, and Liou, to secure even one of the contests.