Tag: Dennis McCaffery

by Nick Hart

After consecutive victories, St. Joseph-Metuchen looks to keep win streak alive against No. 4 Edison

After starting the season 0-5, St. Joseph-Metuchen got off the schneid with back-to-back victories over East Brunswick. Falcons head coach Dennis McCaffery’s response to his squad’s slow start was fairly simple: “We’ve been consistently inconsistent.” 

With two wins under its belt, St. Joes now faces a tough task ahead to extend its win streak to three games as they travel to face fourth-ranked Edison. 

Tuesday will be a rematch of the instant classic that was the 2025 GMC championship, in which the Falcons reigned victorious on a walk-off on a grand slam by the now-graduated J.P. Zayle. While St. Joe’s looks to have the same success against the Eagles this time around, its squad will look much different than that of a year ago.

You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Nick Hart calling all the action. Pregame is set for 3:45 with first pitch at 4; click here to listen.

The Falcons graduated 12 seniors from their program last year, five of whom recorded 40 or more at-bats, three of whom pitched at least 30 innings, and, of course, the player responsible for the walk-off grand slam, Zayle. 

Although seniority is a common theme for St. Joes both last year and this year, underclassmen Nicholas Yacykewych and Paul Rao have made their presence felt early. 

So far on the young season, Yacykewych leads his squad with an impressive .385 batting average in 16 plate appearances. Rao, on the other hand, has made his mark on the mound, sporting a 3.27 ERA in fifteen innings of work, while recording a team-leading 10 punchouts on the mound.  

While a three-game win streak may sound nice, McCaffery has only one thing on his mind entering Tuesday’s game. 

“We don’t really worry about any past type of success or failure,” he said. “We try and just focus on that day and the whole mindset is one pitch, one out, one inning at a time.”

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart talk with St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Dennis McCaffery about the Falcons’ upcoming game with Edison:

by Mike Pavlichko

After thrilling GMC Tournament run, what can St. Joseph-Metuchen do for an encore? Plenty

You could look all the way back to the mid-80s, and the formation of the Greater Middlesex Conference, but it would be impossible to find a more thrilling run to the GMC Tournament title than St. Joseph-Metuchen had in 2025.

They were the five-seed, and won all four of their games in the tournament in their final at bat. Their lineup never faced a single pitch in the entire run while ahead in the game. And then won it on a walk-off grand slam by senior JP Zayle.

But there’s still more to do for the Falcons: win the GMC Red Division title, and win a sectional and state championship.

All those goals – plus the GMC Tournament – are on the table again for a St. Joe’s squad that will be playing its second year under veteran mentor Dennis McCaffery. He came in after spending nearly 30 years at Cranford, but there, he had elementary schools, middle schools and little league in town where he knew all the kids.

Last season was an exercise in getting to meet and learn about them all.

Now, he jumps in with a group he’s been around for more than a year.

Connor Walker is one of the top senior pitchers back – he only threw 12 innings last year – but there will be some younger arms McCaffery hopes will make an impact, whether they only got a handful of innings on varsity, pitched more on the jayvee squad, or are incoming freshmen.

With the weather in the Northeast during preseason camp, getting even a veteran staff ready to go outdoors often takes a while, sometimes a few weeks into the season.

Which leads us to the offense – which will lose guys like Zayle and Bobby Christensen, also middle infielders – but McCaffery likes having a half-dozen starters back, including left fielder Walter Christian (.333), centerfielder Kris Almanzar (.362), first-baseman Logan Ring (.300, 9 RBI), and third-baseman Owen Krulikowski (305).

Click below to hear St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Dennis McCaffery talk about the upcoming season for the Falcons with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph head coach Dennis McCaffery on wild GMCT title win, plus the “glue” that held it all together: longtime assistant Jerry Riporti

Look at any sport, any level, and it’s not just about one player, or the head coach. Winning teams, programs, franchises are all a team effort.

Mookie Wilson didn’t win Game six on his own. Mark Messier’s guarantee doesn’t happen without everyone chipping in.

And that’s the way it is at St. Joseph-Metuchen, too.

The Falcons didn’t just win the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship with one swing of the bat from JP Zayle, although it was the most obvious, easy-to-see reason why. But it was just one of the reasons why.

Talk about the pitching from Richard Zangara, sticking with it after, to be honest, a brutal first inning. Why wants to give up four runs and face nine hitters in the first inning of a championship game? But he allowed just one hit through the next five and one-third innings, keeping his team in the game.

Talk about the hitting, all through these playoffs. Even if their first two GMCT wins were 1-0, walkoffs, it was the timely hit that mattered.

And don’t forget about Dom Erbafina, who got the win in relief – yet again, his third in this GMCT – in just 2/3 of an inning.

St. Joseph-Metuchen assistant Jerry Riporti – who head coach Dennis McCaffery says is responsible for him coming to St. Joe’s in the first place – talks with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko after the GMC final on May 24, 2025. (Photo: Justin Sontupe)

Speaking of timely, it might not have been ideal timing when Mike Murray decided to step away from the program. Sure, it was good for him, with the Murrays about to have a baby, and no one could fault him for that. But what about those St. Joe’s seniors?

They could have left. The NJSIAA allows them one free transfer without sitting. But they didn’t. And one big reason why was Jerry Rippori.

At the tail end now of his 11th season at the Metuchen school, Riporti has spanned three coaches now at St. Joe’s, and that consistency has been key to their success. And as first-year Falcons’ skipper Dennis McCaffery tells it, if it wasn’t for Riporti, he might have been home Saturday afternoon watching baseball on television.

Instead, after retiring from Cranford with more than 500 wins under his belt, he’s still adding to that total, because Riporti thought enough when the head coach job opened up not to seek it himself, but to seek out McCaffery.

That’s the mark of a “team player,” or – in this case – a “team first coach.”

Click below to hear McCaffery talk about St. Joseph’s win in the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament final, as well as Riporti on his part in keeping the team together, and bringing McCaffery in as coach:

St. Joseph head coach Dennis McCaffery
St. Joseph assistant coach Jerry Riporti (with an introduction by McCaffery)
by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph scores early and often, then holds off No. 6 Old Bridge for 3rd straight win, 6-3 victory in Autism Awareness Challenge

St. Joseph-Metuchen went after Justin Hascup early on Sunday, and had the kind of success few do against the Old Bridge ace.

In their Autism Awareness Challenge game – moved to Fred Cole Field after rain all weekend left the fields at North Brunswick Community Park unplayable – the Falcons scored six runs in the first two innings against Hascup, and held off an Old Bridge rally in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-3 win, their third straight.

St. Joseph (5-3, 4-3 GMC Red) got out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Bobby Christensen hit a ground rule double to center on the second pitch of the game, and after Joseph Barca walked – and both advanced a base on a wild pitch – he scored on a sac fly to center by JP Zayle. Luke Palermi drove in Barca – who advanced to third on the fly ball – for the second run.

In the second, Owen Krulikowski and Luke Baranauskas led off with back-to-back singles, and the two advanced on another wild pitch from Hascup. Zach Penley drove in Krulikowski with a sac fly to center, then Christensen made it 5-0 with a two-run homer, his first of the season, and the third of his career.

After Barca struck out, Zayle hit the Falcons’ second ground rule double of the game, advanced to third on yet another wild pitch, then scored on an outside pitch to Palermo that went off the catcher Adrian Lutomski’s glove for a passed ball, making it 6-0 Joe’s.

Hascup finished the inning, but that would be it for him, going two innings and allowing six hits and six runs – five earned – with two walks and three strikeouts.

Brody Meyer came in and relief and shut the door the rest of the way, throwing five scoreless, one-hit innings, and keeping his team in the game.

Meanwhile, Old Bridge (2-3, 2-3 GMC Red), couldn’t get anything going against St. Joe’s starter Rich Zangara, who scattered just two hits over 5 1/3 innings. Matt Friedman finished off the sixth, but got in trouble in the seventh, as the Knights mounted a comeback.

Chris Crosta flied out to center to lead off the inning, but the top of the order – Brody Nugent and John Smith – followed with back-to-back singles. Friedman then hit Justin Hascup to load the bases, then plunked Erich Shikschneit to get Old Bridge on the board.

Then it got wacky(er).

DH Anthony Jannucci hit a line drive to JP Zayle at second. An attempt to double-off Hascup at second wiht a throw to the shortstop, Christensen, was a hair late, and the Falcons let Smith trot home to third, conceding the run. But the lineout was negated as the umpires decided the catcher, Penley, had interfered with Jannucci getting out of the batters’ box. So, he was ruled safe, and the run came in to make it 6-2. Akhil Penkala grounded to short to drive in Hascup, making it 6-3, and the Knights still weren’t done.

Matt Chin walked to load the bases, bringing the winning run to the plate in Noah Balbuena, pinch-hitting for Lutomski, but Dominic Elbafina came in the he struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch on the outside corner to end the game.

Zangara got the win to improve to 2-0, while Hascup fell to 1-1.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen with St. Joseph senior Bobby Christensen and head coach Dennis McCaffery:

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Lutomski struck out to end the game, but he was pinch-hit for by Balbuena.