30 | JUNE 8 • 2023 

SPORTS

F

or a variety of reasons, 
it was a season to 
remember for the 
Frankel Jewish Academy 
baseball team.
First and foremost, the 
Jaguars finished strong 
with eight wins in their 
last nine games. They 
ended up 9-4 overall, 4-0 
in the Catholic League, and 
won their second straight 
Catholic League division 
championship after a 16-year 
division title drought.
They should have played 
more than 13 games.
“We lost five games to 
weather. Rain, snow and 
cold. The weather was 
uncooperative until the final 
two weeks of the season,” 
said Frankel coach Joe 
Bernstein. “We lost another 

game because there were no 
umpires.”
One of Frankel’s wins was 
a historic 5-3 non-league 
victory in mid-May over 
Allen Park Cabrini, a team 
the Jaguars had never beaten.
“We’ve been playing 
Cabrini once or twice a 
year for about 25 years,” 
Bernstein said. “Sometimes 
the games haven’t been close. 
We always circle that game 
on our schedule to judge our 
progress.
“That’s a very good 
program, one we’d like to 
emulate. Each year, they’re 
competitive in the state 
playoffs, in the running for 
a Catholic League division 
title, and they play the right 
way.”
There were plenty of 

Frankel heroes in the victory 
at Cabrini.
Pitching staff ace Ryan 
Schmeltz threw a complete 
game and helped his cause at 
the plate with an RBI triple.
Ethan Grey was on base in 
all four of his at-bats (single, 
double, two walks) and he 
had three stolen bases.
Ryan Rubin had three 
singles, stole four bases and 
scored three runs.
Caleb Robbins contributed 
an RBI triple.
“I told the kids after the 
game that we had never 
beaten Cabrini,” Bernstein 
said. “All they knew before 
the game is this is a team we 
really wanted to beat. Our 
alumni players were aware of 
the significance of the win.”
Each Frankel victory 

this season was especially 
significant because the 
Jaguars did not participate in 
the state playoffs.
A “perfect storm” of 
the schedule of the state 
playoffs and Frankel’s annual 
educational class trips, 
Bernstein said, made it 
impossible for the Jaguars to 
play in the post-season.
It was the first time in 
Bernstein’s nine years in the 
Frankel baseball program, 
including the last four as 
the coach, that the Jaguars 
didn’t participate in the state 
tournament.
“The state has been great 
about working with us on 
scheduling (around Shabbat) 
in the state playoffs,” 
Bernstein said.
Frankel seniors went 

In a Frankel baseball season where every game was 
a ‘must-win,’ one victory stood out among the others.
Sparkling on the Diamond

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JONAH MILLER

Ryan Schmeltz was the ace of 
the Frankel pitching staff.

Frankel baseball coach Joe Bernstein lines up with seniors (from left) Gabe Gordon, 
Ethan Gray, Merrick Michaelson and Caleb Robbins.

AMY ROBBINS

