Both teams had the bases loaded late in the game and it was what each team did with its opportunity that wound up making the difference.

Hackensack’s opportunity came in the bottom of the fifth inning when, with the game tied and the sacks full, Vinnie Troisi laced a single to left field that scored Israel Rodriguez and Mo Fernandez and capped a three-run rally that put the Comets ahead by one.

Ridgewood’s chance to answer came in the top of the seventh inning against Andrew Kendel, Hackensack’s sophomore starting pitcher who was effective all game but was clearly tiring when he gave up back-to-back singles and a walk that loaded the bases with one out in the Maroons’ final turn at bat.

“I was just trying to hang in there and throw strikes,” said Kendel, whose composure was as big an asset as his fastball/change-up style of pitching. “I wasn’t getting ahead of the hitters early in the game like I wanted to, but it got better for me as the game went on and in the seventh inning I was just trying to do anything I could to get us this win. We needed it.”

Kendel painted the inside corner with a fastball on a full count to get the second out of the final inning and then induced a ground ball that shortstop Anthony Izzo gobbled up and went the short way with to put the finishing touches on Hackensack’s 5-4 win.

“I was just hoping that we would play hard and not make mental mistakes even though we did make some early in the game,” said James LaRose, who is in his third season as Hackensack’s head coach. “Every game in this league it seems that anybody can beat anybody except maybe for [Don] Bosco and [St.] Joe’s at times but we beat Joe’s last year. If you throw strikes and field the ball you are going to win games.”

Hackensack had trouble fielding the ball early and it gave Ridgewood the chance to move in front. The Maroons took the lead in the top of the first inning when, with two outs, Joe Coniglio broke down the line from third base on a ball in the dirt. Hackensack catcher Bill Mercedes flagged the ball down and Coniglio was caught in a rundown. During the pickle, Coniglio went way wide to avoid a tag but was ruled somehow to have never have left the basepath.

As he scrambled back toward third base, the throw went down the leftfield line and Coniglio scored standing up as Ridgewood took the 1-0 lead. Two more Hackensack errors in the top of the second inning opened the door to two more unearned runs and forced Kendel to throw more pitches than he should have.

Meanwhile, Ridgewood starter John Bykowski (4 2/3 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 6H, 2 BB, 5K) sailed through the first three innings as he gave up just one hit and struck out three while facing the minimum nine batters over that span. But his fortunes changed in the bottom of the fourth when Mo Fernandez, Hackensack’s leadoff hitter and one of just three seniors in its starting lineup, ripped a line drive to center field that got the wall in a hurry and went for a leadoff triple.

An error on a ground ball hit by Kendel (7 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 11 K) allowed the Comets to get on the board and, two batters later, Anthony Lisi lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Dakota Marositz, the courtesy runner for Kendel, and drew Hackensack to within 3-2.

Jeremy Zoll pushed Ridgewood’s lead back up to 4-2 when he led off the top of the fifth with a home run over the 370-foot sign in left centerfield, but Hackensack got right back at it in the bottom of the fifth and put together the three-run rally that gave the Comets the lead for the first time and for good.

The inability to get at least they tying run home with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh made it excruciating losses for Ridgewood (0-3, 0-3 NNJIL) on consecutive days. On Monday the Maroons dropped a one-run decision to Bloomfield in extra innings.

“This game humbles you, but good teams stick together and look forward to the next game,” said Ridgewood skipper Brian Quirk, whose team will get have a quick turnaround to Wednesday afternoon game at Teaneck. “We still think we are a pretty good team and we’ll just keep doing the things we think we need to do to be successful, believe in the system and believe in each other and believe that it is going to turn around.”

Hackensack (1-2, 1-2 NNJIL) hopes that its season has now officially tuned for the better and will host Clifton on Wednesday with a chance to get back to .500.

“We had a tough loss against Teaneck and we had a little bit of a rough start, but we are on the boat all together now,” said Hackensack catcher Billy Mercedes. “AK [Kendel] gave us a great start today. It was just what we needed and we’ll take it a step at a time and hope that it leads back to the playoffs for us.”

NOTES: Even though he has a team with which he thinks he can win, LaRose is not exactly working with the roster that he thought he might have even as recently as December. Alberto Rodriguez, a junior and a two-year starter at shortstop, transferred to St. Joseph in January, and Hugo Ventura, a senior who would have been the Comets’ starting catcher, moved with his family to North Carolina.

The rotation is anchored by Marositz, a senior, and Kendel and Troisi, two sophomores. Another sophomore, 6-foot-5 Tim Swatek, a potential ace pitcher and stud hitter, is out for at least another two weeks with a lower back injury. Even when he does return, Swatek will not pitch this season.

And NorthJerseySports.com is now officially Hackensack baseball’s good luck charm as we covered the Comets’ first win this season and its first win two seasons ago which also happened to be LaRose’s first win as the Comets’ head coach.