Armed and Ready: Deep, Diverse Pitching Staff has CBA Dreaming Big in 2025

At the beginning of his junior season last spring, Christian Brothers Academy senior Shane Langan was trying to carve out a role for himself on the varsity team, whether as a pitcher, pinch-hitter, pinch-runner or anything else coach Marty Kenney Jr. could find for him.

His first assignment? Keeping score.

“Coming up through the program, I never really expected to pitch,” Langan said. “I started off on the GameChanger (app) so I was just focused on that. I came up last year and we were stacked on the mound, so I was just hoping to get a couple of innings here or there, maybe with a big lead.”

A year after being tasked with keeping stats in the dugout, Langan is one of several CBA pitchers who are putting up major stats on the mound. Langan was a secret weapon for the Colts over the course of their 19-win 2024 season but that secret is now out after he struck out 30 and walked six in 17 innings in 2024 with two saves and a 2.47 earned-run average. On top of the three Division I junior arms leading the way, CBA has the depth that makes beating the Shore’s No. 1 team in games like Monday’s 9-6 win over Ranney or Saturday’s 9-4, season-opening win over Brick Memorial all the more difficult.

“We’re a tight-knit group,” Langan said of the pitching staff. “We’re always hanging out off the field and even then, most of our conversations revolve around baseball: spitting back and forth about pitches, what we like to throw, where we want it, talking about different counts. Baseball is never too distant from our conversations.”

CBA is off to a 2-0 start to the 2025 season, and Langan has appeared on the mound in both wins. He pitched the final inning in Saturday’s win over Brick Memorial — the No. 5 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 — to close out a wild game. On Monday, he worked in and out of trouble during two innings against No. 3 Ranney to earn the win.

With CBA leading, 8-5, in the top of the sixth inning, Langan loaded the bases with a single and two walks to start the inning. He fell behind Ranney leadoff hitter Curt Chropuvka, 3-0, and stormed back by striking him out with three straight fastballs. Kenney then removed Langan with his pitch count at 48, which kept him eligible to pitch again in Wednesday’s second game against Ranney.

“Back in my sophomore year, they called me ‘Mr. 3-2,'” Langan joked. “Now, Coach Kenney is trying to get me to limit those pitches to like 10 to 15 per inning instead of 20. But I feel comfortable 3-0, 3-1, 3-2, because I know I can get it over the plate. I’m confident in my stuff, and I know I can spin anything and throw anything in those counts to get the out.”

Justin Kaufman fires a 1-2-3 4th for Ranney and Shane Langan fires a 1-2-3 5th for CBA. Langan with a couple strikeouts. 6-5 CBA, bottom 5. pic.twitter.com/b5BdoMIpWE

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 31, 2025

CBA’s Big Three

CBA finished the 2024 season as the No. 1 team in the Shore Conference behind its dominant pitching staff and enters this season No. 1 with a pitching staff that has a chance to be even more imposing — even with the 2024 graduation of Wake Forest freshman and Milwaukee Brewers third-round pick Chris Levonas.

The potential of CBA’s staff begins with its three junior starters: Danny DiTullio, Sean Loggie and Dylan Iwanyk. Loggie (University of Virginia) and Iwanyk (University of Michigan) have already announced non-binding verbal commitments to big-name Division I programs. While DiTullio is the uncommitted pitcher of the trio, he is also the most accomplished at the high school level. The 6-foot-3 left-hander was a first-team All-Shore selection as a sophomore last season, when he went 7-0 with a 1.09 ERA in 45 innings, striking out 61 batters while walking only nine.

“I had a good year last year and I knew this year was going to be different,” DiTullio said. “It’s different when you’re a sophomore, underdog, unknown pitcher, and having that year behind me, having hitters know the way I throw, it’s definitely a different mindset. Levonas went through that throughout his career, and we talked about that a lot. And I think that is something the younger guys here really soaked up. It’s made us really get together and talk through a lot of the challenges that come up and to look at everything like something the group is trying to do, rather than just one individual pitcher.”

Iwanyk will get off to a late start this year, according to Kenney, as he works his way through a hamstring strain, but Loggie and DiTullio have started their seasons on solid ground. DiTullio took the ball Monday against Ranney and did not get a decision despite departing the mound with the lead after 3 1/3 innings.  While Ranney touched him up for seven hits, both runs DiTullio allowed were unearned, and he struck out seven while walking none.

“I was actually really happy with this start,” DiTullio said. “To get the first start under my belt, facing a great lineup, grinding out every pitch and coming out with a win. I play with literally all those guys (on Ranney), I’ve played against them, their head coach (Pat Geroni) is my travel coach, so they know me as well as anyone. I just worked with my catcher and Coach Kenney on how to counteract that.”

“Danny is electric,” CBA catcher Dan Tsimbinos said. “He loves his slider. He wants to compete. He doesn’t care who is in the box, he wants to compete every pitch, all season long.”

Danny DiTullio strikes out 2 in a 1-2-3 2nd. CBA up 2-0, DiTullio with 3 K, 22 pitches through 2. pic.twitter.com/LwgWBc2tnH

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 31, 2025

Two days earlier, Loggie made his anticipated season debut after committing to Virginia in the offseason. The 6-foot-5 left-hander battled control issues during an up-and-down sophomore season in 2024, but spent the last several months focused on pounding the strike zone with more frequency. In his first outing of his junior year, Loggie was overpowering out of the gate at Brick Memorial on Saturday. He struck out the side in order on the way to a five-strikeout outing in three-plus innings and 51 pitches. Loggie allowed one unearned run on one hit and two walks to open the season.

“Last year, everything was new, and as a sophomore, there were definitely nerves out there,” Loggie said. “Having the experience and the coaches’ trust in you, it just makes it feel more comfortable.

“My fastball velocity has raised a bit — I’m into the 90s more consistently now. The slider I’m throwing hard, the changeup I’m throwing in the mid-80s. The fastball velocity has been the main thing and then just focusing on attacking the zone and doing a better job placing it.”

Iwanyk, meanwhile, is the middle ground between Loggie and DiTullio. He did not sprint out to a fast start to his sophomore season like DiTullio did, but Iwanyk did find his groove before 2024 ended. After allowing five earned runs in his first nine innings across three appearances, Iwanyk closed his junior year with four straight outings of 13 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run. That included five scoreless, two-hit innings in CBA’s 1-0 win over Southern Regional in the Shore Conference Tournament championship game for the Colts’ first SCT title since 2016.

Learning from ‘The Guru’

Those three juniors and the rest of the staff learned under Levonas, who was the leader of the pitching staff in his final two seasons. Levonas had a lot to think about during his senior year, not only in leading a sophomore-heavy pitching rotation but also staring at a backstop surrounded by 20 to 30 major-league scouts every time he pitched.

Those scouts were there to consider whether or not Levonas was worth offering major money to sign. The Brewers reportedly offered Levonas close to $3 million in signing bonus money, but Levonas chose to honor his commitment to Wake Forest.

As underclass pitchers with high ceilings in their own right, DiTullio, Loggie and Iwanyk watched Levonas’ every move. Now that his graduation opened up a leadership void, the three juniors are ready to step in.

“Having a guy like Levonas was super-helpful,” DiTullio said. “He’s a smart dude, and he knew what was coming behind him, so he definitely took a lot of pride in drilling into us that mindset that we have the best staff in the state. If it’s not your day on the mound, someone else is getting the job done.”

Levonas’ feedback also helped Langan fortify his repertoire. The senior right-hander was often called into action to finish off Levonas’ starts, so Levonas took an interest in Langan’s performance as he entrenched himself as the closer.

“I didn’t have a cutter until Levonas taught me his cutter,” Langan said. “That’s a big part of my repertoire now. He was definitely very influential in how I throw and my mindset on the mound. He was the guru: he did a bunch of research on his own, he had these little games for us to play. As tough as he was — and he would be hard on us when we messed up and if we had a bad outing, he would let us know about it — but he was always there to bounce ideas off of and was always willing to help us understand some of the stuff he was really into: spin rates, the TrackMan, efficiency in the delivery.”

Whether it was Levonas in 2023 and 2024 or the current crop of pitchers, Tsimbinos has been behind the plate to both participate in the operation while also witnessing all the pitching excellence first-hand. The senior, who is committed to Catholic University, is in his third year as CBA’s starting catcher. He is coming off an All-Shore junior season in which he hit .353 with five home runs and 24 RBI.

“I trust all of them,” Tsimbinos said. “I know they’ve got the stuff. They trust me to call the right pitches, so when they have faith in me and I have faith in them, it’s pretty easy from there.

“It makes it easier when you’ve seen MLB-type stuff last year (from Levonas). Everything else, it’s still good, but you can pick up certain things more easily — where a pitcher is missing, if he needs to recover with a pitch, what pitch does he like to throw?”

Danny Tsimbinos rips an RBI double into the LF corner for a 1-0 CBA lead in the bottom of the 1st. pic.twitter.com/bxKP3tF28r

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 31, 2025

Bring on the Closers

While the juniors get the buzz, Langan and fellow senior Jack Dufficy have been the x-factors on CBA’s pitching staff. The two senior right-handers were co-closers a year ago and through two games to start 2025, Dufficy and Langan own the two CBA wins on the mound. After Loggie turned the ball over to Dufficy on Saturday at Brick Memorial, the CBA senior fired three innings of relief and picked up the win when CBA scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead.

Dufficy closed out last year’s SCT championship game as part of a junior campaign in which he posted a 1.17 ERA in 12 innings with 16 strikeouts and six walks. In Dufficy and Langan, the Colts have a rare one-two punch out of a high school bullpen with the ability to both cover multiple innings and lock down the final three outs.

“I have kind of developed into the closer and I love it,” Langan said. “Those guys (the starters), I know they are going to get the outs earlier in the game, I know they are going to set me up for success. Coming in late, I know they trust me, and I feel comfortable to go in there and find my way to get us through the game.”

“I trust those guys,” Loggie said. “The trust we have in each other is unbelievable. We’re like our own little community on the team, so we all know whoever gets the ball is going to do the job, and if we need to pick each other up, that’s what we’re going to do.”

On Monday, junior left-hander Dan Pardini threw his name into the pitching mix for CBA with 1 2/3 scoreless innings to close out the game and earn the save. He ended the sixth inning on a strikeout with Ranney runners on first and second and ended the game with another strikeout.

“I think all our pitchers can compete and are weapons — it doesn’t matter where they are going to college, how hard they throw,” Tsimbinos said. “I think every guy that pitches for us this year is going to compete and come up big for us in big spots.”

Dan Pardini closes out a 9-6 CBA win over Ranney. Colts move to 2-0 with 18 runs in 2 games vs. the No. 3 (Ranney) and 5 (Brick Memorial) teams in the SSI rankings. pic.twitter.com/DEDtbaNpkh

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 31, 2025

The Missing Piece

If a deep, dominant staff was not enough to make CBA the best team in the Shore Conference for a second straight season, an emerging offense would push the Colts over the top.

CBA has scored 18 runs in two games against two teams ranked in the top five of the SSI Top 10, with junior infielders Colin Hoverter and Jared Matejicka off to scorching starts through two games. Hoverter reached base safely in seven straight plate appearances to start the year before flying out to left field in his last at-bat on Monday, making him 3-for-4 with a double, four walks and three RBI and five runs scored through two games. Matejicka, meanwhile, is 4-for-7 with an RBI double in each of CBA’s wins.

“We’re returning all but one hitter, so we’ve got all the confidence we need in the box,” Tsimbinos said. “We know with our pitching staff, all we need to do most days is put up one or two runs and that will be enough once we get into the heart of the season. It definitely takes the pressure off knowing we have so many good players at the plate and on the mound.”

CBA will hope to round into good health and top form over the next month to be ready to make a run at a second straight Monmouth County Tournament championship and a second straight SCT championship.

The Colts would also love to ride their pitching to their first overall NJSIAA Non-Public A championship since 2015, when Shore Conference all-time wins leader Luca Dalatri powered the Colts to division, county, conference and overall state championships. There may not be a record-breaking pitcher like Dalatri on this year’s team or a pitcher who compels a major-league organization to offer him $3 million straight out of high school, but the depth of the staff combined with a lengthier lineup gives CBA its best chance at a trip to the state final in a decade.

The Colts will test their early credentials as a state title contender when they host Don Bosco Prep on Saturday after playing at Ranney Wednesday and Middletown South Friday  in Class A North games.

“It’s pretty much the same lineup as last year, and guys worked hard all offseason to get better,” DiTullio said. “There were definitely times we felt squeezed as pitchers, feeling like we needed to pitch a shutout. Between the Shore Conference run last year and with the way everybody is swinging the bats right now, it feels different. It takes a lot of stress off us as pitchers, and it’s going to make it that much better.”