MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Columbia High School baseball team is on a mission to win the state sectional and group championships.
Luke Nomura hit a two-run, walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the sixth-seeded Cougars to a thrilling 4-3 win over No. 11 seed Bloomfield in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4, tournament on Wednesday, June 1, at Underhill Field.
Nomura finished 2-for-4. Nate Berenberg went 2-for-3, and Brandon Doubek hit a solo homer.
Dylan Sullivan struck out six in five innings. Jake Gewirtz got the win in relief, pitching two scoreless innings of two-hit ball with two strikeouts and one walk.
Columbia took a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Bloomfield answered with one run in the top of the fourth inning and two in the fifth inning for a 3-1 lead. Bloomfield was the runner-up in the Greater Newark Tournament this season.
The Cougars upset third-seeded Ridgewood, 8-4, in the semifinal on Saturday, June 4, in Ridgewood. Berenberg went 2-for-2, with two singles and three RBIs; Charlie Herley went 2-for-3 with two singles and an RBI; and Jack Maitlin and Nomura each had a single and an RBI.
The Cougars, who improved to 17-11 on the season, were scheduled to visit second-seeded Passaic County Tech in the semifinals on Tuesday, June 7, in Wayne.
The winner will face the winner between No. 16 seed Hackensack and No. 4 seed Livingston in the championship on Friday, June 10.
The last time CHS reached a state sectional final was in 1998, when it defeated Union, 16-10, in North 2, Group 4, before losing to Bayonne, 2-1, in the Group 4 semifinal at Montclair State University.
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