Tag: Red Bank Catholic

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 5 Monroe goes on the attack early, hangs on to stun state-ranked Red Bank Catholic, 5-2, in Autism Awareness Challenge; plus all weekend Challenge scores

Monroe head coach Sean Field knew what kind of challenge his Falcons would be in for when they picked up Red Bank Catholic for their Autism Awareness Challenge game this weekend at North Brunswick’s Community Park.

What he didn’t know is that his team would enter the weekend having lost four of their last five games, coming off a two-game sweep at the hands of Woodbridge.

They got back on the right track with an 8-4 win at St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday, then got thrown a curve when a rainy forecast moved their game with the Caseys to Mannino Park in Old Bridge.

But on the way to the game, Field said to his assistant, “You know, if we could get up on these guys early…”

Turns out, that’s just what they did.

The Falcons – who are 7-4, and the No. 5 team in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top 10 – scored five times in the top of the first, then hung on til the seventh, when starting pitcher Aadi Shah allowed two runs on a two-out single. But he got out of it, and the Falcons hung on for a 5-2 win over the perennial state power Caseys, who were ranked No. 18 in the state Top 20 heading in.

After a leadoff walk, a double, and a strikeout to start the game, Alex Marcus made it 1-0 with a single. Ben Faigin, who’d doubled, scored on a passed ball for the second run. Michael Cinque doubled for the third. Matt Linke scored on a dropped third strike to Rob Profaci to make it 4-0, and Christian Luciani drove in the last run on a sac fly to right.

That was all the scoring until the seventh, when Red Bank Catholic (6-2) loaded the bases with one out via a double, single and a six-pitch walk. After Shah got a swinging strikeout for the second out, Luke Lonczak singled to right field, plating two, but Shah then got Charlie Stumberger to ground out to second.

Now, the Falcons are back on a two-game win streak, with St. Thomas Aquinas coming down to Monroe Tuesday to finish their two-game GMC Red Division set.

Click below for postgame reaction from Monroe head coach Sean Field with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Here’s the weekend roundup of baseball scores from the Autism Awareness Challenge:

THURSDAY:

  • Roselle Park 10, Bound Brook 3
  • South Amboy 22, Rahway 10
  • Scotch Plains-Fanwood 13, East Brunswick 3
  • Piscataway Magnet 17, East Brunswick Magnet 6

FRIDAY:

  • Middlesex 11, Voorhees 12
  • Rutgers Prep 17, Union Catholic 10
  • Spotswood 5, Somerville 4
  • Delbarton 11, Randolph 10

SATURDAY:

  • Barnegat 11, JP Stevens 1
  • South Plainfield 4, Millburn 2
  • Sparta 9, Steinert 3
  • Ramapo 15, Holy Spirit 6
  • Jackson Twp. 10, Livingston 4
  • South River 14, Weehawken 2
  • Carteret 13, North Brunswick 0
  • Metuchen 8, South Brunswick 3

SUNDAY:

  • Monroe 5, Red Bank Catholic 2
  • St. Joseph-Metuchen 7-6
  • Sayreville vs. Mainland (called in 3rd inning due to rain)
  • Gloucester Catholic 8, Governor Livingston 7
  • Columbia 10, Edison 4
  • Gill St. Bernard’s vs. Notre Dame, 4 pm
  • Westfield 4, Old Bridge 3
  • St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Oratory Prep, 7 pm
by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY: Non-Public South A Final – (1) Red Bank Catholic 4, (2) St. Joseph-Metuchen 1

The top-seeded Red Bank Catholic Caseys rallied for four runs in the final two innings to come back from a 1-0 first-inning deficit, to beat second-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen 4-1 in the Non-Public South A title game.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe call all the action from Count Basie Park in Red Bank on June 3, 2023:

by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph-Metuchen falls short, 4-1, in Non-Public South A title game to Red Bank Catholic

It wasn’t exactly David vs. Goliath, but St. Joseph-Metuchen clearly wasn’t the favorite against Red Bank Catholic, the No. 1-ranked team in the state, heading into Saturday’s Non-Public South A title game.

But for most of five innings, with Jimmy Mulvaney puzzling the Caseys hitters, it looked like an upset might be in the making, even after RBC tied the game at one in the fifth inning.

Red Bank Catholic may not have figured out Mulvaney, but they were able to piece enough together to come out with a 4-1 win, and the sectional title, after all, in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

In the decisive sixth inning, Red Bank Catholic got three runs on three hits, all singles, and two errors, including a passed ball, plus a mishandled bunt situation where no one was quite sure whose ball it was t field.

St. Joe’s got its only run in the first inning. Robbie Carvellie doubled with one out, then after a two-ouot walk by Tyler DelVecchio, Matt Kosuda drove him in with a single.

For a while, it looked like that might be the only run of the game. But it wasn’t.

RBC’s Matt Brunner got hit by Mulvaney on the first pitch of the fifth. A sac bunt moved him to second, and an error on a ground ball hit to short by Max Dantoni tied the score.

Then, with the game tied at one in the bottom of the sixth, RBC went ahead in what would be its final at bat of the year at Count Basie Field.

Sean Griggs led with a single, then Frank Scrivanic reached on an error. A passed ball allowed Griggs to score from third, making it 2-1 RBC. Then Brunner flied to center to make it 3-1, and a Brendan Kopec single drove in the fourth run, but he got cut down trying to extend it to a double to end the inning.

Joe’s went down 1-2-3 in the seventh to end the game, and ends its season 23-4.

Red Bank Catholic will play in the Non-Public A Final Thursday in Hamilton against either Don Bosco Prep or Bergen Catholic, the North A winner.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

St. Joseph head coach Mike Murray
Red Bank Catholic, 2023 Non-Public South A Champions. (Photo: Justin Sontupe)
Red Bank Catholic head coach Buddy Hausmann
by Mike Pavlichko

Red Division, non-conference slate has St. Joseph well-prepared for Caseys in Non-Public South A final

Playing in what may very well be the toughest division in the state, St. Joseph-Metuchen has come through the gauntlet.

They didn’t win their division, but took the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, beating the Red Division champion, North Brunswick, when in counted: in the county final.

Now, they hope that experience pays off in the state playoffs, where they will take on the top-ranked team in New Jersey.

The second-seeded Falcons (21-9) will travel down the Shore Saturday morning to play top-seed Red Bank Catholic (23-5) for the Non-Public South A title, in a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

First pitch is set for 11 am, with pregame at 10:45, as Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe provide the play-by-play. Click here to listen.

St. Joe’s is playing in the finals for the first time since 2019, and looking for its first sectional crown since they beat Bishop Eustace in 2010, but lost to Immaculata in the statewide Non-Public Group A final. The Falcons also claim titles in 2007, falling in the state final to Seton Hall Prep, and 1989, where they lost to Don Bosco Prep in the state final.

Red Bank Catholic, meanwhile, snapped a string of six straight titles won in the section by St. Augustine, beating the Hermits 8-2 back on Wednesday. They’re also the Shore Conference Tournament Champions for a fourth straight year. Although, notably, one of their five losses this year did come to a team very familiar to St. Joseph: Old Bridge. The Knights beat them 2-1 last month in their Autism Awareness Challenge game.

George Washington commit Alex Stanyek (2-0, 0.30 ERA) is expected to get the ball for the Caseys against one of the biggest and baddest lineups in the GMC, one which has been hitting the ball exceedingly hard of late. The Falcons are coming off an 11-3 drubbing of Notre Dame in Wednesday’s semifinals.

As in that game, Jimmy Mulvaney (7-0, 1.70 ERA) will get the start for St. Joe’s. Yes, that will be starts in back-to-back games, but he’ll do it because head coach Mike Murray was wise with his pitching staff in Wednesday’s game. Murray had that luxury after his team jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings against the Irish, with Mulvaney throwing just 68 pitches through five innings of work. That leaves him with 82 for Saturday, per NJSIAA pitch count rules. And closer Bryan Rios should have plenty in the tank, too, after throwing just 26 pitches in the final two innings of relief back on Wednesday.

Click below for preview interviews of the Non-Public South A final with both head coaches:

St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Mike Murray
Red Bank Catholic head coach Buddy Hausmann
by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep boys’ aim for history in revenge game, facing Red Bank Catholic for a title

It’s been said somewhere that the Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball team played its worst game of the season on January 30th down in Bayville, when the Argonauts gave up a season-high 90 points and lost by eleven to Red Bank Catholic in the Jimmy V Showcase.

But head coach Matt Bloom says it’s only a bad loss if his team doesn’t learn from that game. And they’re determined to make amends tonight.

If they play the type of game they played Monday night – in stifling St. Thomas Aquinas and holding leading scorer Adam Silas to just 12 points all evening, including a single point in the entire first half – then the mission will be accomplished.

Third-seed Rutgers Prep faces top-seed RBC in the Non-Public South A championship game tonight down at Lenape High School in Medford, NJ, and you can hear the game on Central Jersey Sports Radio beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 and tip-off at 7:00. Mike Pavlichko will call all the action, and you can click here to listen live, for free, with no paywall.

Rutgers Prep is seeking its first state title since joining the NJSIAA in time for the 2012-13 school season

Besides the defensive pressure, the offense got a boost Monday from Jadin Collins, the junior guard who notched a double-double with a career high 30 points, as well as ten rebounds, four assists and seven steals. Senior forward Ryan Zan also had a double-double, with 12 points and ten boards.

READ MORE: Rutgers Prep boys topple St. Thomas Aquinas in a slugfest, will try and claim program’s first sectional title

The Caseys, meanwhile, are led by senior guard C.J. Ruoff at “just” 11.4 points per game, but they have a balanced scoring attack.

Alex Bauman can create matchup headaches. The senior was a football All-State tight end, first team, for the Non-Public B Champions in 2021, catching six touchdown passes, 26 overall, for 432 yards. All he did in the first matchup against Rutgers Prep was score 17 points and grab a whopping 19 rebounds. But the kid can rebound, too. The Tulane-bound (for football) Bauman also had four assists in that game.

READ MORE: Rutgers Prep boys’ opponent Red Bank Catholic brings balanced attack to Non-Public South A title game

How they got here:

(3) Rutgers Prep: defeated 14-Union Catholic in the first round, 81-58; defeated 11-Immaculata in the semifinals, 84-63; defeated 2-St. Thomas Aquinas in the semifinals, 68-59

(1) Red Bank Catholic: first-round bye; defeated 9-Camden Catholic in the quarterfinals, 88-62; defeated 4-St. Joseph-Metuchen in the semifinals, 70-58

Offensive/Defensive numbers: Stat-wise, Rutgers Prep outscores Red Bank Catholic on average nearly 77-63. But defensively, they have both been very good, and are fairly equal: 55.2 allowed by the Argos, to 50.2 allowed by Rutgers Prep. That out their meeting on January 30th for both, and it’s even closer: Prep is allowing 53.8 a game, 49.12 for RBC.

ONE NIGHT, TWO TITLES? – READ MORE: Rutgers Prep girls are playing at next level heading into Non-Public South B final tonight down the Shore.

What’s the goal? In all three Rutgers Prep losses, they’ve allowed at least 70 points. The Caseys are 8-0 when scoring more than 70. In RBC’s four losses, they never managed 60 points – 58 was their highest – so 60 may turn out to be the magic number on the board for the Argonauts.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep coach Matt Bloom talk about his team’s title game against Red Bank Catholic tonight with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep boys’ opponent Red Bank Catholic brings balanced attack to Non-Public South A title game

When one looks at the season stats for Red Bank Catholic, what jumps out is that no one jumps out.

And that’s just the way sixth-year head coach Tyler Schmelz likes it, that anyone can be the man on any given night.

Wednesday night, in the Non-Public South A title game, we’ll find out if that recipe works for the top-seeded Caseys, as they take on third-seed Rutgers Prep down at Lenape High School.

Tip-off is set for 7:00, with pregame at 6:45 on cjsportsradio.com. Mike Pavlichko has all the live play-by-play, and you can hear it – with no paywall – by clicking here.

Statistically, the Caseys are led by senior C.J. Ruoff’s 11.4 points per game, followed closely by senior Alex Bauman (11) and sophomore Gioacchino Panzini (10). It could be any of them, or someone else, coming up the hero if RBC is to win its first sectional title since 2004, when they won Non-Public South B, but lost to St. Anthony of Jersey City in the group final.

Bauman is an interesting one, a guard who looks like a tight end.

That’s because he is, and a pretty good one at that. He was first team all state last year on the Caseys’ Non-Public B championship team, and a three-star recruit who has signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Tulane.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk about the Caseys with Red Bank Catholic head coach Tyler Schmelz:

Note: Check cjsportsradio.com Wednesday morning for our story with Rutgers Prep head coach Matt Bloom, and a full preview of the Non-Publc South A title game along with notes and key stats.