Lyndhurst’s baseball team finished in second in the BCSL National, behind the co-champs, Hasbrouck Heights and St. Mary’s.

And last season, the Golden Bears were stumped again by its state rival, Hoboken, this time in the Group 2 North 2 state sectional finals.

For this season Lyndhurst is looking to move up a rung on both occasions. And so far the Golden Bears are in the mix for the league.

Coming into the season Lyndhurst was considered one of the favorites along with Heights and St. Mary’s. Wallington has been placed into the mix.

The reasons include a 19-9 record and several players back this season including junior pitcher Glenn Flora who made a quality pitching duo with Jimmy Ostag a now graduated-senior.

But Flora has started out the season 3-0 as he is the team’s ace and will be key for team’s success this season.

To stay undefeated in the National, the Golden Bears defeated Becton, 3-0, at Yogi Berra Stadium at Montclair State. Flora fired a one hitter against the Wildcats and struck out nine in the game.

"He did a lot of work on the changeup," said Lyndhurst head coach Frank "Butch" Servideo about his ace.

Joining Flora back this season is junior Brian Walker at second base, senior Anthony Dorio at shortstop, senior Bubba Jasinski at third base, senior Anthony Levario at center field and junior Justin Kapp at right field. When not pitching Flora will play in left field. Dorio and Levario are two of the Golden Bears top hitters. Dorio is hitting .400 while Levario was hitting .350 as of last week.

Before the season started the Golden Bears were in the hole as senior co-captain Nick Abruscato broke his left hand is out for the season. Abruscato was their starting first baseman and was fifth in the lineup. To replace Abruscato at first base, Servideo has gone with senior Frank Pica.

While Flora is number one pitcher, the number two pitcher is Tommy "The Gun" Farrell who was the team’s number one reliever last season and was 2-0 as of last week. "He’s got nice control and location," said Servideo.

The other members of the team’s pitching staff are junior Lou Baroody, junior pitcher Kevin Smolensky, senior Eddie Teuro and junior pitcher Mike Murphy.

In Smolensky, he returns to baseball after taking a year off from baseball to concentrate on getting ready for his junior year of football while Baroody moves up from the junior varsity. Murphy pitched four innings in the victory on April 10 over Wood-Ridge.

Catching that group of pitchers is sophomore Danny LiSanti who is a transfer from Florida. "He’s been steadily improving game to game," said Servideo.

While Flora is the leader of the pitching staff, sophomore Miguel Molina, a transfer from Belleville High School is hitting over .400 for the season. Molina has been mainly a designated hitter, but can also play third base, first base and pitch. For a couple of games last week he had gotten seven consecutive hits before striking out against Becton.

But overall Servideo believes it will come down to the mound. "The key is pitching," said Servideo. "We have a solid ace in Flora and the other people have been stepping in well. Defense and hitting has not been where it should be. It is steadily improving."