CALDWELL, N.J. -- In 2024, Caldwell baseball stole a total of 28 base in 35 games. Today, in a doubleheader vs. CACC foe Bloomfield, the Cougars swiped 26 bags, bringing their season total to 89, topping the school Division II record of 87 set back in 2004.

Chief among the burglars today at sun-splashed Kiwanis Oval were senior 1B-LF Liam Lombardi (Stony Point, N.Y.), who stole two in each game, and junior OF Jimmy Kurtz (Buena, N.J.) had three in the opener and one in the nightcap as Caldwell took the pair, 12-1 and 10-3.

In the opener, the Cougars (11-11, 5-9 CACC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second, a two-run single by Lombardi capping the inning. Then, leading 4-1, Caldwell hung a pair of threes in the third and fourth, then put the final runs on the board on a two-run triple by junior RF Stephen Young Jr. (Middlesex, N.J.) in the fifth to support the five-hit pitching of soph righthander Alfonso Esposito (Middlesex, N.J.), who allowed no earned runs over five innings, and junior righty Matt Perez (Washington Township, N.J.). The game was halted after seven innings by the run rule.

In the nightcap, scheduled for seven innings, Caldwell scored in each of their first five turns at bat, with RBI hits by senior 1B Oscar Fajardo (Brentwood, N.Y.) and freshman 2B Alan Hernandez (Boca Raton, Fla.) and a sac fly by junior SS Christian Rinick (Marlton, N.J.) staking senior righthander Brandon Scalisi (New City, N.Y.) to a 5-1 lead. The Cougars would extend to 10-1 after five, with Scalisi permitting just four hits and a run, walking none and fanning five over six brilliant innings.

Rinick added an RBI single in the fifth and junior LF Elijah Santiago (Toms River, N.J.) brought in another with an RBI double in the right-center field gap.

Caldwell and Bloomfield (0-15, 0-6) continue their four-game conference set with a pair of games at Vailsburk Park in Newark beginning at 10 a.m.