Rain Forces Bloomfield Baseball Indoors as States Approach

Though the weather was bad this week, Bloomfield baseball received some great news. The Bengals are in the state sectional tournament as the 11th seed in the North 1, Group 4 bracket.

“It's where we’re supposed to be,” said Mike Poilcastro, the coach. The Bengals skipper would have liked to have gotten a higher seed. “We made some mistakes early in the season,” he said. Those mistakes put the Bengals’ record at 12-11 at the time of seeding.

They’ll be playing a familiar foe in the first round, sixth-seeded West Orange. The Bengals and the Mountaineers are both in the Super Essex Conference’s American Division. Though the Bengals put up a fight in their two meetings this season, West Orange won both games; a 6-1 contest in April and a 9-7 loss last Monday.

The game against West Orange was part of a tough stretch for the Bengals. Last week, they played five games in five days against some very good teams. One of the highlights came Tuesday, when Bloomfield hosted Wayne Valley. Though Matthew Schroeder, a pitcher, had a rough top of the first inning, allowing two runs, the Bengal offense rebounded in the bottom half. A double from Devin Radziewicz, a triple from Jared Guglielmino, and a sacrifice fly from senior Cavan Penberthy put Bloomfield up 3-2.

Wayne Valley scraped out a run in the third to tie the game. After that, the Bengals blew the game open. A walk and a pair of two-run singles from Penberthy and junior Jeremiah Smith led to a five-run fourth inning for Bloomfield. The flurry of hitting didn’t stop, as the Bengals crushed the Indians, 17-7 in six innings.

Schroeder, a senior, picked up the win for the Bengals. He allowed five runs off nine hits and struck out five batters in five innings of work. Penberthy was 1-for-3 at the plate, with three RBIs and two stolen bases. Jared Guglielmino was 2-for-3, with a triple, two stolen bases and two RBIs.

The Bengals dropped two very close games last Monday and Wednesday to West Orange and Millburn, respectively. They were knocked out of the Greater Newark Tournament on Thursday after falling to West Essex (18-2 this spring), 16-6.

Bloomfield returned home on Friday to host Montclair. The Mounties played a strong game, holding the Bengals to one run through the first five innings. Policastro’s squad mounted a comeback effort in the sixth inning, scoring five runs to take the lead, giving them a 6-5 win, their 12th of the season.

This week has been the complete opposite for the Bengals. The rain has forced them to cancel all of their scheduled games this week.

“Everyone who doesn’t have a turf field is in the same boat,” Policastro said.

The Bengals coach was trying to find teams to play this weekend so his team did not go into states cold.

“[Practicing inside] deters your preparation, especially for a state game,” he said.

He was able to pick up two games. This morning, the Bengals will play Indian Hills at 11 a.m. at Bloomfield Middle School. Sunday at 1 p.m., they’ll play at Morris Knolls. The team also has to make up a conference game against Newark East Side, but that will have to wait until after states.