Hager Haymaker: RBC Dominates CBA to Clinch Class A North

MIDDLETOWN — When Tyler Hager is playing a sport, his specialty is preventing the other team from scoring. Whether it’s as the Shore Conference’s best shot-blocker during the most recent basketball season or as one of the best defensive first basemen his current high school coach has ever rostered, the 6-foot-7 Red Bank Catholic junior has proven, more than anything, he can play defense with the best.

On Monday at Christian Brothers Academy, he proved his scoring suppression extends to the pitcher’s mound in the longest and most important appearance of his career.

The junior right-hander fired five shutout innings with eight strikeouts and also contributed two of his team’s 12 hits in a 13-0 Red Bank Catholic drubbing of CBA in six innings to clinch the outright Shore Conference Class A North division title for the Caseys.

The five innings and 97 pitches Hager threw were both career highs at the high school level and, according to Hager, at any level. With RBC’s top three pitchers so far this season — senior Glen Popes, senior Joe Mauro and junior Anthony Scaglione — all ineligible to pitch, Hager was tabbed to start the potential division-clincher against rival CBA.

“I have never thrown above three innings in high school or travel,” Hager said. “Going as long as I did was really impressive for me. The big thing was just being confident in my team, knowing that if I just throw strikes, they are going to back me up.”

A pressure-packed stage is nothing out of the norm for Hager, who transferred to Red Bank Catholic for this season from St. Rose. While the Purple Roses baseball team did not reach the level of RBC’s squad, St. Rose’s basketball team — on which Hager played key minutes off the bench — was one of the state’s top teams and a repeat Shore Conference Tournament champion.

“He is such a gamer and just loves to compete,” Red Bank Catholic coach Buddy Hausmann said. “Everything he does, it’s always, ‘Sure, coach. Whatever you need.’ Nothing fazes him. I watched him all basketball season. He took on a lot during basketball season, so I knew this wouldn’t faze him.”

Upon transferring to RBC, Hager initially planned to play only baseball for the Caseys, but his basketball teammates convinced him to join them in the winter. In addition to leading the conference in blocks per game, he landed a spot on the Shore Sports Insider All-Shore Second Team and led RBC to its first Shore Conference Tournament championship game and a No. 3 overall ranking in the conference. He was also the conference’s unofficial leader in dunks.

In the winter time, Hager and his Caseys went 0-2 against CBA, including a regular-season overtime loss at CBA in which Hager dominated before fouling out early in overtime. The second loss was a more convincing CBA win in the SCT championship game.

“I took this game pretty personal from basketball season after what (CBA) did to us in the finals,” Hager said. “I came in here with a different mindset than usual, and it showed. They killed me this year, especially that student section. They got in my head a little bit, so I wanted to give it to them today.”

While Hager had his own revenge over CBA on his mind Monday, he cared more about the baseball rivalry and the message his current team could send the Colts with a win. Last year, while Hager was still at St. Rose, CBA ended RBC’s season in the NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A championship in a five-inning, 11-1 win.

“Joining the program, knowing our history with (CBA), it’s just part of my mindset to be all-in,” Hager said. “I always want to be on the best team, playing against the best. That’s my competitive edge.”

“I reminded the guys this is where our season ended last year,” Hausmann said. “Those seniors like (Dylan) Passo and all those guys, their careers ended here, so there was some extra motivation with that.”

A 13-0 win in April doesn’t quite match the gravity of a sectional final, but Hager and his teammates relished the chance to clinch a regular-season championship on CBA’s home field and to do so with a relatively inexperienced pitcher leading the way.

For all his big-game experience and overall athleticism, Hager entered Monday without a lot of high-school innings as a pitcher under his belt. He posted a 9.33 earned-run average in only nine innings at St. Rose last season. Prior to Monday, he pitched only 3 2/3 innings this season, during which he allowed two runs.

Hager’s nearly 100 pitches in five innings were a product of him falling behind hitters, but he rarely let those 3-0 and 3-1 counts turn into free passes. He issued two walks and a hit batter, with one of the walks and the hit batter both coming on a 3-2 pitch.

“I just slowed down my breathing in those situations,” Hager said. “I focused on the strike zone and just tried to slow down everything. It worked out for me.”

CBA managed four hits off Hager, who featured a fastball-heavy repertoire from a low, three-quarter arm slot.

“It was mostly the fastball today,” Hager said. “They weren’t really piecing it up, so I was very confident with that, and the slider was doing what it was supposed to do.”

He also benefited from a pristine, error-free defensive performance by the Caseys, in which he also participated. In the bottom of the first inning, Hager raced to the bag and took a throw from second baseman Brayden Harmata while on the run to complete a 4-3-1 putout for the final out.

RBC also turned a double play behind Hager to end the third, with sophomore Matt Lazzaro — his fill-in at first base — making a clean scoop on an in-between hop to complete the double play and end the inning.

On most days, Hager is a middle-of-the-order first baseman who goes high and low and left and right to prevent balls from getting past him. He has also made over-the-shoulder and even over-the-fence catches from the position, prompting his coach to compare him to 2025 graduate and defensive stalwart Dylan Passo — now playing at Notre Dame.

RBC’s offense racked up 13 runs Monday with just one extra-base hit, which was a double by senior shortstop Drew Cannon to lead off the second inning. The Caseys plated two runs in the first on an RBI ground out by senior catcher Aiden Funk and a sacrifice fly by senior Jake Frankel, then pushed three across in the second after Cannon’s double. Senior third baseman Landon Laido singled home a run and senior leftfielder Miles Nessan made it 4-0 with another RBI single, with the third run of the inning scoring on one of CBA’s six errors in the game.

CBA was missing junior catcher Griffin Kilcullen due to a hand injury, and RBC took advantage by stealing eight bases in the game, including three by centerfielder and leadoff hitter Luke Lonczak. Lonczak finished 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI to go with his three swipes. Hager, meanwhile, helped his cause by going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI single in RBC’s five-run sixth.

“It’s the best feeling in baseball when you can pitch with a lot of runs on the board from your offense,” Hager said.

RBC and CBA will play their second meeting against one another on Wednesday at Count Basie Park, with the Caseys having already clinched the division title and both teams preparing for important games later in the week. CBA hosts Ranney on Thursday in the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals, and if the Colts can avenge two losses to Ranney last week, they will play Saturday in the MCT semifinals.

RBC, meanwhile, will host Rumson-Fair Haven in a regular-season game on Friday with a large collection of power points at stake for both teams. On Saturday, the Caseys host Howell in the Monmouth County Tournament semifinals.