The North Bergen High School baseball team won the a chance that no other baseball team in the school’s history has received – the opportunity to play for the overall New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group IV championship.
The upstart Bruins, winners of 12 of their last 13 games, earned the right to travel to Toms River over this weekend to face New Jersey’s No. 1-ranked team, Toms River East, for the state championship. The game was slated to be played yesterday (Saturday, June 9).
The Bruins first defeated local rival Memorial (of West New York) by a score of 7-6 in nine innings last Friday to capture the North Jersey Section 1, Group IV championship, a feat in its own right, considering Memorial was ranked No. 2 in the state at the time of the game.
North Bergen then advanced to the title game by defeating Roxbury 10-3, in the overall Group IV semifinals at Northern Valley/Demarest High School last Tuesday in Demarest.
Although North Bergen has had some quality baseball teams in the past, no team has ever advanced this far in the state tournament in the 40-year history of the school.
Incredibly, this team was left for dead a week ago when the Bruins trailed Bayonne, 5-1, in the fourth inning of the sectional semifinals on Tuesday. Things didn’t look too good, but the Bruins received a break when the skies opened and rain forced postponement of the game before it could be completed.
Since the game was halted before it was a complete game, it had to be replayed in its entirety a day later, and was won by North Bergen, 5-3.
The Bruins then managed to sneak by Memorial in extra innings on Friday to win the sectional championship, then faced adversity Tuesday against Roxbury in the state semifinals.
North Bergen starting pitcher Emil Fuda struggled finding the plate, walking five in the first two-plus innings. With the score already 2-0 in favor of Roxbury and the game slipping away, North Bergen head coach Brian Boyce called upon reliever Anibel Santiago to come in and quell the storm.
Santiago saved the day, getting the Bruins out of the bases-loaded, no out jam in the top of the third, keeping the score at only 2-0.
In the bottom of the third, the Bruins responded by scoring four runs on only one hit, with the ball never leaving the infield. The Bruins capitalized on two Roxbury errors and a wild pitch. They scored on infield outs and fielder’s choices. It wasn’t a rally of beauty, but it was enough to allow the fairy tale to continue.
The Bruins then added one run in the fifth inning on an infield groundout by Jon Barrera. They then erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth, capped by a solo homer from Mike Vijande and a three-run triple by Omar Tavarez that sealed the win and the trip to the state championship game.
But the hero of the day was Santiago, who allowed just one run and four hits over five innings of relief work, walking just one and striking out one.
“Emil wasn’t at his best, so we needed Anibel to come in and save the day for us,” Boyce said. “He came in and threw strikes and did a great, great job. He doesn’t do anything pretty, just that the results are great. He really saved us. I can’t say enough about what he did.”
So the Bruins move on in this improbable and unbelievable run. They have already knocked off one state-ranked team and they have a chance to pull off the “Hoosiers” of the baseball set.
“I think it’s exciting that we’re getting a chance,” Santiago said. “I like that we’re going to play the best team in the state for the state championship. Let’s see what happens.”
For more on the Bruins’ win over Roxbury, check out Jim Hague’s report as part of the Scoreboard column in sports.