GRHS grads lead baseball team to Babe Ruth regional title

Glen Ridge High School graduates Tom Sheehan and Evan Sternberg helped the Bloomfield Babe Ruth 18U baseball team to the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship in Syracuse, N.Y. this past Monday night.
Bloomfield defeated Onondaga, N.Y., 5-1, in the championship, after beating the same team, 9-8, in eight innings in the semifinals.
Bloomfield advances to the World Series Aug. 4-12 in Newark, Ohio.
Arriving early at Alliance Bank Stadium, home of the Washington Nationals’ Class AAA affiliate the Syracuse Chiefs, Bloomfield marveled at the size and beauty of the facility. Then the Bengals put their awe behind them and got to work.
On the mound, Alex Gouin was brilliant. He scattered four hits and allowed a powerful Onondaga lineup only a single tally. He was helped by his teammates’ flawless defensive performance. Catcher Sternberg handled Gouin’s devastating breaking pitch well, keeping everything in front of him and preventing any errant balls from reaching the expansive area behind home plate.
An infield of Marc Hanna, Patsy Caggiano, John Espada and Andrew Rigassio handled every chance, while outfielders Sheehan, Pat Bollotta, Dan Onove and Mark Carrione fought off the sun and patrolled the vast acreage with perfection.
At the plate, the Bengals once again received some timely hitting. Realizing early that their long fly balls stood little chance of clearing the fences surrounding the cavernous complex, they began to spray line drives around the field. Alan Gassler, running for Gouin, put Bloomfield on the board first when he crossed the plate on an Espada single.
The Bengals added another run an inning later when a Sternberg hit plated Sheehan for what would prove to be the winning run. And with a little help from an intense sun, Bloomfield added three insurance tallies in the fourth. Gouin, awarded first when he was hit by a Turner Parry pitch, began running when Bollotta lofted a towering fly into right field. The Onondaga player settled under the ball but then lost it in the sun. It struck him on the head, allowing Gouin to score and Bollotta to chug into second. Caggiano followed with a walk and then Sheehan cleared the bases when his liner to right skipped all the way to the wall.
Despite later hits by Gouin, Caggiano, and Lou Orangeo, the Bengals didn’t score again, but Gouin and his defense shut down the dangerous Onondaga offense and the Bengals cruised to a 5-1 victory and a date with destiny.

Rallies to beat Onondaga in semis
Bloomfield beat Onondaga, 9-8, in the semifinals on July 25, in what was surely a game for the ages. Bloomfield capped a furious comeback with two runs in the eighth inning to snatch victory away from previously-undefeated Onondaga.
Playing before a large hometown crowd in that semifinal game, a motivated Onondaga club jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. The Bengals, though, behind the solid pitching of Sheehan, kept things close. Bloomfield struck for its first tally in the third when Sternberg singled home speedy Bollotta to make the score 3-1.
Although Onondaga added another run in the inning’s bottom frame, the determined Bengals never stopped scratching and clawing at the lead. Sheehan continued to mix up his pitches well while his teammates made key defensive plays to help him work out of tight spots. When the Bengals added two more in the fourth on singles by Onove and Orangeo and a bases-clearing double by Caggiano, they were back in the game.
Onondaga, however, went right back on the offensive, widening its lead to 6-3 by plating a couple of runs in the fourth. It was at this point, though, that the Bengals began to find their game against Onondaga starter Pat Brown. After a Rigassio single, third baseman Gouin took Brown deep to cut the margin to 6-5. In the following frame, the gritty Bengals knotted the contest when Caggiano singled and scored when Hanna drilled a double to left-center field. Onondaga, however, tallied again in the bottom of the sixth to jump back in front.
In the top of the seventh, Onondaga retired the first two Bloomfield batters. Down to their last out and their last strike, with their hopes on life-support, the never-say-die Bengals went to work. Espada, who had come on to pitch marvelously in the fifth, lined a crucial single to right to keep the boys’ dreams alive. After Onondaga changed hurlers, both Bollotta and Rigassio were hit by pitches to load the bases.
With the hometown crowd silent and uneasy, the 1-0 pitch to Sheehan got past the catcher, and Espada raced home, sliding under the outstretched glove of the pitcher to tie the game. After the Bengals were retired, he then trotted out to the mound to whitewash Onondaga and send the game into extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Bloomfield again used the long ball to strike quickly and decisively. This time it was Rigassio’s turn and the All-Stater didn’t miss, sending a blast over the left-field fence and into the parking lot beyond. Sternberg, who had led off the inning with a single, crossed the plate just ahead of him. Before the two could reach the dugout, they disappeared into a mob of jubilant and boisterous teammates, only to emerge helmetless and grinning.
Down 9-7, Onondaga kept pressing. Rigassio, who had come on to pitch, got the first batter to ground to Caggiano in the hole. Ranging far to his left, the agile shortstop snared the ball and fired a strike to Onove at first for out number one. After a walk and long fly to center field which Bollotta corralled, Onondaga plated a run on a double and a single. But with the winning run in the batter’s box, Rigassio induced a ground ball to second, which Hanna tossed to first for the final out of an incredibly tense contest.
Blanks Williamsport, Pa. in second game
Bloomfield’s baseball juggernaut continued its roll in the Mid-Atlantic Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y., by blanking Williamsport, Pa 10-0, on July 24. In the first two games of the tournament, the Bengals were dominant, scoring 22 runs and giving up just one.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bengal bats came alive. Sternberg led off the frame with a single, and moved to third on a long double by All-State first baseman Rigassio, a Columbia High graduate. That set the stage for Gouin, who had held the Long Island Demons to a single run in the tournament’s first round. Gouin, a West Orange High graduate, launched a long home run over the right-center field fence to spot Bloomfield a 3-0 lead. The Bengals added three more in the third when Sheehan doubled, Sternberg singled, and Rigassio crunched another double. With first base open, Onove drew a walk and Espada followed with a two-run single.

Bloomfield widened its lead in the fourth on a double by Caggiano and an RBI single by hurler Hanna. The offense remained alive in the fifth. Onove and George Antoun led off with walks and Sheehan, who was 3-for-4 on the day, lined a double to send them both across the plate. Hanna then walked and on his attempted steal of second base, Sheehan scored the game-ending tally when the Williamsport catcher threw the ball into center field.
Although the Bengals’ offensive attack was impressive, their pitching and defensive prowess were nothing short of phenomenal. Again and again, Hanna had the Williamsport hitters swinging at air. His overpowering fastball and devastating curve kept the opposing hitters off-balance all afternoon. In the field, Gouin made two remarkable plays. On one, he leapt high in the air to snag a hard-hit bouncer and then set himself to throw a strike to first for the out. Rigassio also pulled a couple of balls out of the dirt at first, and center fielder Bollotta made two impressive running catches to deny Williamsport a chance to put some runs on the board.

Crushes Long Island in the first round
The Bengals defeated the Long Island Demons, 12-1, in the first round on July 22.
Gouin was backed by a potent hitting attack.
Playing in the beautiful mountain-ringed town of Marcelus, N.Y., Hanna spotted Bloomfield an early lead when he blasted a solo home run in the top of the first inning. The Bengals added two more in the second when Rigassio was plunked by a fastball and Espada and Bollotta walked. With the bases loaded, switch-hitting shortstop Caggiano drilled a clutch single to center field that scored Rigassio and Espada.
That score held up for the next three frames as neither team was able to generate much offense, but all that would change in the sixth when the Bengals would score nine runs to blow the game wide open.
The Bloomfield rally began when leadoff batter Gouin was hit by a pitch and Onove and Orangeo singled. Up again with the bases loaded, Caggiano drew a walk to force in a run. Two more crossed the plate when the Long Island pitcher threw a Sheehan come-backer into center field. Hanna followed with a single and Rigassio a double before Onove put the game away with a three-run opposite field blast. Long Island did manage to score a run in the bottom of the sixth, but it was far from enough and the Bengals cruised to the victory.