Bloomfield sweeps struggling St. Mike’s

Close isn’t getting it done for the St. Michael’s baseball team. The Horsemen suffered through their third one-run loss of the season in the opener of a nondistrict doubleheader at Bloomfield on Tuesday afternoon, then the Bobcats rolled through Game 2 for the sweep. Bloomfield scored four runs over the final three frames for a 4-3 walk-off win in Game 1, then rolled to a 13-3, five-inning win in the nightcap.

Augustine Ruiz, the St. Michael’s head coach, was disappointed in how his team let the opener slip away and the pitching struggled to throw quality strikes in Game 2.

“We’ve got some things to clean up for sure,” Ruiz said.

Jude Roybal had things under control until the fifth inning, when the Bobcats tied the score at 3-all thanks to a pair of hit batsmen and the Horsemen defense being unaware of how many outs there were.

“Our guys thought there was two outs, out first baseman rolls the ball to the pitcher’s mound [thinking it was the third out],” Ruiz said. “And their guys circled the bases.”

Equally frustrating were the six runners the Horsemen left in scoring position in the opener.

In the second game, Bloomfield (5-4) jumped out to a 6-2 lead after three and scored seven more runs in the final two frames to enforce the 10-run mercy rule. St. Michael’s (4-6) used three pitchers to get through that game to no avail.

“Our pitchers were missing spots bad, and those guys didn’t miss,” Ruiz said. “Even the guys in the bottom of the order were putting good swings on balls.”

Sean Latham was the top hitter for the Horsemen, going 6-for-7 overall.