Bloomfield 18U baseball team enjoys fine summer

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield 18U baseball team enjoyed a successful summer.

Consisting of Bloomfield High School players, the team finished with a 7-2-1 record. They defeated West Orange, 2-0; Bayonne, 7-4; Montclair, 11-10; Morristown, 10-8; Lyndhurst, 8-3; and Montclair, 14-1. They fell to Bayonne, 11-0; and West Orange, 8-5; and tied Passaic Valley, 10-10.

The summer was a nice way to gain experience, as the Bengals hope to improve from this past high school season, when they finished with eight wins.

BHS head coach Mike Policastro was encouraged by the team’s pitching this summer. “Our pitching was pretty consistent all summer,” said Policastro, who directed his Bengals Baseball Camp at Bloomfield Middle School for the 18th year this summer. The three-week camp, which ended Aug. 2, was for boys entering grades 2-8. 

Leading the way on the mound this summer was rising senior Darious Rivas, a varsity letterwinner, who went 2-0 with a 2.06 earned run average. In 17 innings pitched, he allowed 13 hits and eight walks, and struck out 24.

“Darious Rivas pitched really well,” Policastro said.

Policastro was impressed by other pitchers, such as rising sophomores Brady Cole, Conor Ennis and Miles Jimenez. 

Jimenez, who also plays first base and third base, was exceptional at the plate, as he batted .412 (7-for-17) with three triples. This past spring, he played on the freshman and junior varsity teams.

Braeden Weber, a rising junior and varsity letterwinner, hit well this summer. He batted .429 (6-for-14) with six RBI. 

Policastro said Cole and rising sophomore Jake Menake did “a nice job at the top of the order, followed by Weber and (rising senior) Kevin Obiedzinski. (Rising) senior Jack Lardner also had some clutch RBIs for us.”

Obiedzinski went 6-for-17 (.375) this summer. This past spring for the Bengals, he earned First-Team honors on the All–Super Essex Conference–Liberty Division, as voted by the divisional coaches, batting .317 with 26 hits (18 singles, seven doubles and one triple).

Cole, Menake, Lardner and Ennis gained varsity letters this past spring.

The results on the field were solid this summer. But the main thing was gaining valuable experience that will prove beneficial next spring.

Notes – Policastro, a 1989 BHS graduate and former Bengals standout baseball player, completed his 18th season as the Bengals head coach, leading the team to the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 state title in 2008 and North 1, Group 4 sectional runner-up finishes in 2007 (Policatro’s first season), 2014, 2019 and 2023. In 2022, the Bengals reached the Greater Newark Tournament final for the first time in 22 years, falling to Seton Hall Prep. The GNT is the de facto Essex County tournament.

Policastro earned his 300th career victory this past season and now has 301 wins. He has 250 wins as the Bengals head coach. Policastro previously was the head coach at Manchester Regional High School in Haledon and at Saddle Brook.

Policastro’s camp staff included his assistant coaches/former BHS players Mike Carter Jr. and Liam Penberthy, as well as former BHS player/current BHS head softball coach Rich Adams, BHS JV baseball coach Sean Downey and former BHS player/current Don Bosco Prep assistant coach Mike Chiaravalotti. Other staffers included former BHS player/current assistant New Jersey City University pitching coach John McAndrew, former BHS player/current NJCU player Brandon Piacenza and former BHS player/current Penn State–Scranton player Jake Sullivan.

Photo by Joe Ragozzino

  Bloomfield High School baseball