Baseball Game Preview: Newark Academy Minutemen vs. Bloomfield Bengals

The Newark Academy Minutemen will square off against the Bloomfield Bengals at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Newark Academy is headed out to face Bloomfield after opening their season at home and giving their fans just what they were looking for. Everything went the Minutemen's way against Glen Ridge on Thursday as they made off with a 9-0 win.

Jared Levine

Batters Struck Out (Career)

04/03/25 vs Glen Ridge	10
04/30/24 vs Belleville	8
04/10/24 @ East Orange Campus	7
04/15/24 vs Cedar Grove	3
04/22/24 vs East Side	1

Jared Levine was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Those ten strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last three games he's played dating back to last season.

In other pitching news, Jonah Grossman looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits.

Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Ryan Zhu, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played. Carson DeVirgillio was another key player, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.

Meanwhile, Bloomfield had to kick off their season on the road on Tuesday, but they showed no ill effects. They came out on top against Newark Tech by a score of 4-1.

Bloomfield's victory was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Pedro Valdes, who scored a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Another was Sean Sayers, who went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one double.

Newark Academy came up short against Bloomfield when the teams last played back in April of 2019, falling 8-4. Can the Minutemen avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.