Two ex-age group Rebels U baseball buddies graduate onto college stage after Blind Brook
June 12, 2024 at 11:19 p.m.
Their final Blind Brook High School baseball season didn't end the way they wanted it to, but they went down swinging—and they both walked away knowing it wasn't an end to the friendship that had begun on the Rye Brook playing fields when they were in grammar school, just starting to come of baseball age playing up a year with the Rebels 8U team.
A lot has happened since those first days playing together on those ages 8 and under Rebels teams playing on local fields stretching from Pine Ridge to Garibaldi parks.
Made Blind Brook history
As they advanced in baseball age, talent and wisdom, Andrew Rogovic Jr. and Zach Schneider, the two former Rebels buddies with a baseball cause, developed into ballers who would rank among the best Trojans to ever play the game.
And in the process, they helped make Blind Brook baseball history.
Even as their paths diverged from both being among the Rebels best pitchers.
Both were four-year starters for Blind Brook, both hit over .300 for their varsity careers, and both played key roles on and off the mound.
The diverging paths
Rogovic became the best Blind Brook pitcher in school history, has won an athletic scholarship to Northeastern and his blistering heat in the high 90s has attracted the attention of Major League Baseball scouts. Even though his senior season didn't live up to the great expectations, he still played through a blister on his pitching hand, started at shortstop and came through with two clutch (albeit limited) pitching performances where he gutted his way through the pain.
Schneider ran track from the sprints to distance, played second base for the first three Trojan years, switched to center field as a senior because that's where the team needed him most, and alternated between starter and closer because of the Rogovic blister injury that almost derailed what turned into a 6-14 season that included a playoff berth.
Senior Zach Schneider went down swinging in his final game as a Trojan, belting out two hits in Blind Brook's 2-0 playoff loss to Dobbs Ferry. Schneider wound up batting over .300 during his four years as a versatile varsity starter for Blind Brook who pitched, played second base and center field following stardom as an age-group player for the Rye Brook Rebels.By File Photo
Both were at their best in that 2-0 playoff loss away to Dobbs Ferry with Schneider getting two base hits and Rogovic throwing no-hit ball with eight strikeouts in four innings until that blister forced him out of the game with two unearned runs deciding that pivotal contest.
Errors cost the Trojans that game.
Righting the wrongs
But a lot went right before that. Because Rogovic and Schneider had memorable Blind Brook careers.
Rogovic will graduate with a pitching record that may never be equaled—he was the All-League and All-Section Pitcher of the Year in 2023 when he set the school's single season strikeout record with 115 in 52 and two-thirds innings, leading Section 1 in strikeouts while also making the Lohud Westchester and Lower Hudson Valley All-Star team.
But what stands out most in his mind during that unforgettable league championship 16-4 year was winning the school's first ever playoff game. He threw a complete game shutout, recording 19 of the 21 outs by strikeouts while allowing the Pawling Tigers just three hits and coming back a few days later to beat Croton. "Getting to play all those games with kids I have played with since age 7 and having the stands packed was something I will never forget," he said.
Hall of Fame bro
Blind Brook will never forget that despite that blister on his hand, his final pitching record included racking up 33 strikeouts in 14 innings of playoff ball. And even with the blister, he still made the All-League Team, was League Player of the Year, and even though he was limited to 25 and two-thirds innings, he still chalked up 56 strikeouts, allowed zero earned runs, allowed just two singles (both infield base hits) and led the team in hitting from the shortstop slot while batting over .350. He ended his career with over 250 strikeouts and pitched 24 and one-third innings in the playoffs, giving up just one earned run (and that was in his sophomore year).
Zach Schneider and Andrew Rogovic during their growing up days with the Rye Brook Rebels where they started playing baseball together at the age of 7.Courtesy of Andrew Rogovic
He wound up with at least 12 ultra-competitive collegiate athletic Division 1 playoff offers and chose Northeastern because of its academic as well as athletic program and a chance to pitch for coach Mike Glavine, brother of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine, a noted pitching guru. And being just three hours from home didn't hurt either.
The next steps
After Blind Brook graduation and before heading off to college, Rogovic will pitch for the Trenton Thunder in the Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft League, a showcase league stocked with only pro-draft eligible players who have to be invited to play by at least several MLB scouts. The league plays six games a week as part of a wide-ranging schedule, so Rogovic will be living away from home in team-provided housing, an early taste of what college life will be like and a big step up from the games he used to play on those championship-winning early Rebels U teams as well as such fast-paced local travel teams as the Taconic Rangers and training programs with Hit N Run and the Westchester Baseball Academy.
Schneider played a major role in winning all those early Rebels championships that helped during the Blind Brook varsity days that included playoff appearances in three consecutive years. And in the 2024 season, he was the Man. After starting at second base during his first three years, the Trojans needed someone to replace graduated senior centerfielder Jack Vnenchak, one of the best outfielders in Section 1 as well as one of the school's best football players. Schneider stepped up. His speed made him a natural. So he was needed there as well as elsewhere, primarily as a pitcher because of Rogovic's injury. Schneider was originally supposed to be the closer, but with Rogovic sidelined by that blister, he also became the Trojans’ most-used pitcher, winning twice as a starter (who threw a complete game 2-1 win over Sleepy Hollow on Senior Day and beat Haldane 6-2 while throwing six badly-needed winning innings). He was also the closer in several other winners.
The way it was
To put his value to the Trojans into perspective, Blind Brook won only six games all season. So, without Schneider, Blind Brook wouldn't have made the playoffs. But Schneider was used to coming through in clutch pitching situations from his earliest days as one of the Rebels’ best age group pitchers. Veteran Rebels aficionados remember him coming into pivotal games as a 7U second baseman playing up a year in the 8U playoffs and being called on to protect one-run games in the quarter and semi-finals and closing out both games by attacking the zone like a poised veteran ace to win both games.
Schneider co-captained and made the All-League team for the Trojans this year, received All-League Honorable Mention last year, and hit over .300 each year during his Trojan career as a four-year starter.
Ready for next stage
"From the first day Zach played for the Rebels till the last day he wore a Blind Brook jersey, Zach was everything you would want from a player," according to Andrew Rogovic Sr., one of Schneider's former Rebels coaches who is also a longtime Rebels board member along with Zach's father. "Zach let his play do his talking and was the epitome of a team first player. He has left his mark on baseball in Rye Brook. And will make a name for himself academically in college at Emory University."
So that's the way it was as Trojans for Rogovic and Schneider, two buddies ever since their Rebels growing up days. They graduated from age group baseball as Rebels with a cause: Becoming all-time Blind Brook baseball greats determined to turn around a losing culture. And they did.
And now the two are poised to enter their next phase of life on the college stage as the curtain comes down on their high school years.
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