GRHS graduates lead Babe Ruth 18U baseball team to state crown

Glen Ridge High School graduates Evan Sternberg and Tom Sheehan were key members of the Bloomfield Babe Ruth 18U baseball team that won the state championship.
Big games are won by great players. That adage certainly proved true as a Bloomfield Babe Ruth 18U baseball lineup loaded with talent, out-pitched and out-slugged Iron City, a highly-skilled Morris/Sussex All-Star team, by a score of 13-7 last weekend to claim a state title and move on to next week’s Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Syracuse, N.Y.
Featuring a lineup with three All-State and six All-Essex County players, the Bengals finished the regular season with an unblemished 18-0 record and then swept four tough games in the state tournament. To do so, though, they needed every ounce of talent and determination to fight off and overcome the challenges that were thrown their way. Relying as they did throughout their incredible run on a deadly combination of solid pitching, stellar defense, and timely hitting, the boys were able to eliminate Iron City and seize the state crown.
Riding the golden arm of Catholic University-bound star Marc Hanna, the Bloomfield defense kept the game close until the Bengals’ bats began to heat up. Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, the Bengals struck for four runs. A Sternberg single drove in Sheehan and Hanna and an Andrew Rigassio double scored Sternberg. After Alex Gouin was hit by a pitch, Dan Onove and Pat Bollotta walked to force in the fourth run of the inning. Iron City added two unearned runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game, but Onove broke the contest wide open for Bloomfield with a grand slam that sent his jubilant teammates streaming off the bench to mob him at home plate. The inning began with a Sheehan single and then Hanna and Sternberg walked to set the stage before the big first baseman took a 3-1 delivery and launched it over the center-field fence for what would prove to be the winning runs. The Bengals’ bats stayed hot and they added some insurance in the fifth when Patsy Caggiano hit a solo homer and Gouin slammed a three-run shot.
After Iron City pushed across three more unearned tallies in the sixth to close the gap to 13-7, All-State pitcher Gouin came on to shut the door on their comeback attempt and prop open the door to Syracuse. Aided by stellar defense on the part of Sternberg, John Espada and three-time All-County shortstop Caggiano, Gouin retired Iron City in order in the seventh to secure the victory and send the excited Bengals to Syracuse for next week’s Mid-Atlantic Regionals.
With two of their best players, Gouin and Sternberg, injured and watching from the sidelines, the Bengals had to dig deep to scrape and claw their way to a nine-inning 15-13 victory over a talented Bergen All-Star squad on July 12 in the semifinals.
Holding onto a tenuous 12-10 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, Bergen scored two runs to tie the contest and send it into extra innings. A Sheehan double in the top of the eighth sent Hanna across with the leading run, but Bergen wouldn’t quit. They pushed across the tying run in the bottom of the inning and then loaded the bases with no one out. After conferring with catcher Maliki Flemming, Rigassio promptly got a strike out, a pop out, and ground ball which third baseman Lou Orangeo handled easily for the third out. Bloomfield went ahead to stay in the top of the ninth when Onove drilled his fifth hit of the game into center field for a double and then scored when the Bergen shortstop threw the ball away after snaring a Bollotta grounder.
Bergen led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to left, but Rigassio got the next batter on strikes. The third hitter of the inning cracked a line drive to shortstop Caggiano who sprinted to the bag to double off the baserunner to end the game.