By Rich Chrampanis
LAKEWOOD – Some could argue that winning the Shore Conference baseball tournament is just as hard or even harder than a state title. That makes the run of Red Bank Catholic’s baseball team truly impressive in a league that will have multiple teams make deep runs in the upcoming state playoffs.
RBC avenged a loss to Ranney with a 2-0 win over the top-ranked team in the state in the SCT final at Lakewood’s ShoreTown Ballpark. Caseys senior Alex Stanyek delivered a tremendous performance on the hill, taming a dangerous Ranney lineup to just two hits, striking out 11 in six-and-two-thirds innings of work.
Panthers starter Marcello Mastroianni matched goose eggs with Stanyek through the first four innings, setting the stage for late-inning drama. The Caseys put together three straight hits in the second inning before Mastroianni worked out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to left.
In the fifth, RBC threatened again when Stanyek smashed a ball to deep right center that Glen Cantalupo tracked down by. Courtesy runner Max D’Antonio was nearly at third base when he started to retreat. Some confusion in the infield allowed D’Antonio to slide back into first base and keep the inning going. Ranney went to the bullpen with two outs in the fourth and brought in AJ Gracia, one of the state’s top two-way players. Gracia got a strikeout, stranding two Caseys runners and keeping the game scoreless.
RBC’s breakthrough came in the sixth inning. Shane Andrus delivered his third straight single of the game, setting the stage for Dylan Passo to smack an RBI double that went into the right field corner and put the Caseys on the board. Matt Brunner followed that with an RBI double of his own, giving RBC the 2-0 lead.
The Caseys outhit the Panthers 10-2 yet Ranney was in line to steal the victory in the bottom of the seventh. When Stanyek walked Enrique Beltra with his 110th pitch, the righty was forced to leave the game due to pitch limit rules. RBC turned to Ethan Marzo to close out the game, needing just one out for another Shore title.
With the dangerous Gracia on deck representing the game-winning run, Marzo avoided that potentially dangerous confrontation with a strikeout of Cantalupo on a high fastball to trigger yet another dogpile celebration in Lakewood for the RBC baseball program.
The Caseys are the first team to win four straight Shore titles on the baseball diamond. RBC won in 2019 before COVID-19 canceled the 2020 tournament, but the Caseys have now strung together three straight years of titles.
“It’s unreal to me,” Stanyek said. “I only have so many games left with my brothers here and I’m just trying to enjoy every single one. There’s just no better feeling in the world, there really isn’t. I’ll take this over anything.”
Stanyek is an everyday player in the outfield and admitted he’s been banged up throughout his senior season which has affected his pitching. Throwing in the low 90s throughout the championship game and showcasing a devastating curveball, his gutsy performance clearly fueled his teammates.
“Going up there I had two words on my mind – Alex Stanyek,” Passo said about his RBI double. “I wanted to do it for him. He puts his body on the line every game. I just wanted to get that hit for him and let him go out the right way.”
In the midst of the post-game celebration, the RBC coaches let the players know that head coach Buddy Hausmann just won his 300th career game. Hausmann tried to downplay the personal accomplishment and took a moment to reflect on another great baseball game between two teams that should be contenders for a state championship in the coming weeks.
“It’s just nice to see for high school baseball, especially our area,” Hausman said. “There’s kids that are doing this while here and they’re going to go on to the college level and pro baseball and hopefully these are kids we’re going to see on TV maybe someday. It’s nice to see them showcase in a place like this.”
The article originally appeared in the May 25 – 31, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
