Jefferson Biener strikes out seven to lead Division baseball past MacArthur
Jefferson Biener, Division pitcher, reacts after the final out in his team's 9-1 win over MacArthur in a Nassau Conference AA-I baseball game at Division on Monday. Credit: James Escher
Division baseball coach Tom Tuttle praised Jefferson Biener’s ability to attack the strike zone early and often.
The Blue Dragons junior righthander was not only finding the zone throughout Monday’s home game against MacArthur – he was commanding it.
Biener struck out seven, walked none, allowed only four hits (all singles) and threw an efficient 87 pitches (63 strikes) in seven innings for a complete-game victory, a 9-1 win in a Nassau Conference AA-I game in Levittown.
“Everything was clicking,” Biener said. “I was getting ahead on a lot of batters. Changeup was working well, just a good overall day.”
Said Tuttle: “He pitched to his ability. He had a couple of starts where he kind of tried to do too much. He's a very good pitcher, and he showed it today. He's going to use both sides of the plate. He's going to mix it up. He's got a really good two-seamer, gets a lot of ground balls. He did a really good job.”
Biener propelled Division (6-4, 4-3), the reigning Nassau Class AA champion, to its fourth straight win.
“It's exactly what we were looking for all year,” said senior shortstop Isiah Marino, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. “He got out there, pitched to contact, we made the plays. He just looked great out there. He was dealing.”
MacArthur (7-3, 5-2) took a 1-0 lead on three-hitter Chase Palma’s RBI single with one out in the first inning. Biener retired the next 13 batters. He retired 20 of the final 22 hitters he faced.
“Coming into the game, you're excited, crosstown rival,” Biener said. “You’re a bit jumpy in the first inning. But once you get the first out of the way, you settle in.”
Division plated four runs in a third inning that included an RBI double by Marino, an RBI infield single by Jason Perez and two runs scored on errors.
The Dragons sent 11 men to the plate in a five-run fifth inning. Jack Harrington had an RBI single and Aiden Susi had a pinch-hit two-run single as part of the damage.
Division, which started two sophomores and four juniors Monday, looks a lot different from last year’s team. But the Dragons are now stringing wins together and having fun in the process.
“It's been a lot different,” Marino said. “It's a lot of young guys, of course. But I personally think it's the most fun I've ever had. These guys are great. It's just a lot of new guys out there, it's just great to play with all of them. Everybody thinks we're underdogs, but we're showing them we're not.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
