After Marlboro’s baseball team sent Chester home with a 5-0 loss Thursday in the Class B semis, Brendan Mahusky’s teammates closed in on him during an interview after the game.
The team let Mahusky finish the interview and then watered him down with the remainder left in the cooler for his role in the game, a three-run blast that pushed the Dukes into the final Saturday in Saugerties.

Mahusky’s time with the Dukes is coming to a close with his upcoming graduation later this month. But the senior is doing what he’s done since he was four years old, playing baseball for the first time in Milton.“Ever since, it has been my favorite thing to do,” he said, of playing the game.

Mahusky pitches and plays third for the Dukes. When the season ends, he’ll put on a Newburgh Nuclears uniform and play American Legion summer ball. He also pitches for the Nukes and plays first base. And Mahusky enjoys pitching the most.

“I am in control of the game,” he said.

Marlboro won the 2016 Class B state title, and the Dukes were one victory away last week from getting ready to embark on another trek in the state tournament.
“We have a solid group of guys. Every one knows their role,” he said.

And he plays baseball in a town that has produced a strong group of players for decades.
And the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, and the football team have also been annual favorites to win sectional titles along with the baseball and softball teams.

“Baseball and sports in general in this town are really and probably one of the major things about this town. Everybody knows Marlboro by sports,” he said. “It’s a blast playing baseball in Marlboro.”

Mahusky is headed to Dominican College, a D-II school to play baseball and study biology.