Change the Narrative: Ranney Baseball Sweeps CBA For Third Straight Win

TINTON FALLS — Like many of his fellow juniors on the Ranney baseball team, Justin Kauffman already built himself a varsity baseball résumé that resembles that of an accomplished senior, so he and his fellow Panthers entered 2026 with heightened expectations.

Through his first three starts on the mound, however, Kauffman allowed nine earned runs in 6 1/3 innings and through seven games, Ranney was 2-5 as a team with 60 runs allowed with 42 walks issued by its pitchers in the five losses.

To turn it around for himself, Kauffman had to be more than just a better version of himself, but rather a different version of himself as a pitcher. Once Ranney’s pitching came around, the rest followed.

For the second straight start Thursday, Kauffman pitched a complete game, this time tossing a four-hitter to beat the No. 1 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 — Christian Brothers Academy — 3-1 for Ranney’s third straight win.

“It was a rough start,” Kauffman said. “I feel like we weren’t really together as a team. Obviously, I wasn’t doing the best job as a pitcher, especially getting ahead (of hitters). I’ve been focused on getting ahead early, figuring it out and being as one with the team also helps. We got a lot more reps in practice after the rough start, which has helped. Feeling that connection as a pitcher gives me confidence because I know I can have the ball in play and the play is going to be made. The last couple of weeks, we have turned it around, so we feel good now.”

Over the last four games, Ranney has turned to either Kauffman or freshman Jake Abrams, with junior J.L. Gallina also picking up a win in relief during that stretch. That four-game run started with a 2-1 loss at Red Bank Catholic, but Abrams’ 10 strikeouts in six innings with just one walk marked a changing of the winds for Ranney’s pitching.

Kauffman then fired a complete game in Saturday’s 8-3 win over Middletown South in the Monmouth County Tournament and Abrams and Gallina combined to pitch eight innings in the Panthers’ 4-2, extra-inning win at CBA on Tuesday.

“We were walking eleven guys per game,” Ranney coach Pat Geroni said. “We were giving up 10 or 11 runs per game. We were striking out at a crazy rate at the plate. We were just trying to do too much and we have a lot of youth on the field, so in a way, it’s understandable. The RBC game we lost 2-1, that was the first real baseball game I felt like we played this year. Then, the Middletown South game gave us the confidence because we actually won. Then, being 2-2 at CBA, that was a crossroads for us.”

According to Kauffman and Geroni, Kauffman relied too much on his fastball and slider and fell behind hitters too often during those first three starts — a loss to Howell, a no-decision in a loss to Poly Prep of Brooklyn and a regular-season loss to Middletown South. Facing Middletown South for a second time, Kauffman and Geroni set out to work in his changeup more and the improved pitch mix, as well as command of it, garnered immediate results, as Kauffman was able to go the distance while allowing three runs on four his and four walks while striking out seven.

“He was dominant his first two years and he gained some velocity heading into this year,” Geroni said. “Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad. I felt like he was overthrowing his fastball early, falling behind counts and I don’t think he threw a single changeup in his first three starts. Going into the Middletown South start, we talked about how he had to find it and he found it early and probably threw it 35 times.”

“I threw the changeup once or twice in preseason and didn’t throw it at all until my second Middletown South start,” Kauffman said. “I would spike it, then I would just totally not throw it the whole game. I’m not going to go seven innings with two pitches so I had to use the changeup and it felt great today. Knowing I have three pitches I can throw for strikes, trusting my defense, it’s just given me a totally different presence on the mound.”

On Thursday, he stuck with a similar game plan and was even sharper against the No. 1 Colts. Kauffman again allowed only four hits over seven innings, this time allowing just one run and one walk while fanning five. Even more impressive is the start came at home and against Michigan-bound CBA ace Dylan Iwanyk. Ranney’s hitter-friendly dimensions can burn pitchers with shorter-than-usual home runs at best and intimidate them into pitching outside the zone at worst.

Neither pitcher pitched afraid on Thursday, but one did get burned by Ranney’s tight dimensions. In the bottom of the third inning, Panthers No. 9 hitter and centerfielder Brody Mauro scalded a 0-2 pitch from Iwanyk to right-centerfield. Colts centerfielder Alex Fiore tracked it down and extended his glove to make the catch, but as soon as it hit his glove, Fiore crashed into the centerfield fence and the force of the collision forced the ball out of his glove and over the top of the wall for a solo home run.

The short outfield fence at Ranney strikes, literally. Alex Fiore grabs Brody Mauro’s line drive to right-center but loses it over the wall after he crashes into the fence. Robbie Wrobel adds an RBI single and Ranney leads CBA 2-0 after 3. pic.twitter.com/JinezCA0EB

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) April 23, 2026

Mauro is not a typical No. 9 hitter at the high-school level. He is already committed to play at Xavier and is in his third season as a varsity player after entering high school as one of the highly touted players within a talented Class of 2027 for the Panthers.

“He hit like .800 in the preseason with a bunch of home runs and then he tweaked something in his calf and he was out for two weeks,” Geroni said of Mauro. “He has had a tough time getting his timing back, but his batting practice has looked really good lately. With (junior shortstop) Ricky (Lopez) in the leadoff spot, pitchers are not going to want to run a 3-2 count on the number nine hitter, so the reason we put him there is to draw more strikes. We don’t want Brody taking pitches and walking. He’s got a lot of power, so we’re just trying to free him up.”

Ranney stayed on Iwanyk in the third to add another run thanks to two of the team’s hottest hitters. Lopez skipped a single through the middle and stole second base to put himself in scoring position for the heart of the order. Iwanyk responded with a strikeout and freshman Brody McCorkle lined out to leftfielder Jack Russo for the second out with Lopez still stuck on second. Junior second baseman Robbie Wrobel stepped in and fought off a 2-2 pitch from Iwanyk into left centerfield to chase home Lopez for a 2-0 Panthers lead.

Wrobel gave Kauffman and the Panthers an insurance run in the most exciting way possible. In the bottom of the sixth, he collected his second single of the game, stole second base for the second time, then took third on a wild pitch. With two out and Iwanyk ahead of the batter, freshman Braden Cox, 1-2, Wrobel waited for Iwanyk to start his windup and broke for him. Iwanyk alertly stepped off the mound and fired the ball to his catcher, Griffin Kilcullen, and the throw beat him, but it was just high enough for Wrobel to slide under Kilcullen’s tag to complete the straight steal of home.

“I saw him in the wind-up, I got a big walking lead and just went,” Wrobel said. “Once I saw he was in the wind-up, I wanted to take my opportunity. I slid in safe. It was pretty cool. We needed a run for the top of the seventh and we got it.”

WOW. Robbie Wrobel with a straight steal of home with 2 out in the bottom of the 6th. Ranney leads CBA 3-1. pic.twitter.com/RXwbt0vvRv

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) April 23, 2026

“When a pitcher’s out of the wind-up, you are looking for tendencies,” said Geroni, who said that was the first straight steal of home executed by one of his players since he took over at Ranney in 2019. “With Iwanyk, not only is he going to be a monster at Michigan, but he is going to be a monster after. Chances are, if we get two strikes, we’re in trouble. We saw he was starting his wind-up with a little push with his hands, then goes into his rock, which gives you a little cue. We were just throwing a Hail Mary and we told Robbie, you’re not breaking on the rock, you’re breaking on his hand motion. He actually broke a little early and Iwanyk made a really alert play to step off and make a good throw, but Robbie got such a big jump that it worked out.”

After going 2-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI and three stolen bases on Thursday, Wrobel is now 10-for-18 over Ranney’s last five games, which includes 6-for-11 during the six-game winning streak and an RBI in each of the last two wins over CBA.

“I’m just going my job,” Wrobel said. “If you put the ball in play, good things happen. (Iwanyk) is a good pitcher, so we wanted to try to hit the ball to the backside and usually good things happen when you’re thinking like that.”

Wrobel’s dash to the plate made the score 3-1, with CBA scoring its lone run on a fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Kilcullen. Second baseman Dylan Reynholds led off with a bunt single and third baseman Michael Knox kept the line moving with another single to give the Colts two base-runners with none out, both of whom moved up on a wild pitch before Kauffman recorded an out. The Ranney right-hander induced a pop-out to Lopez for the first out, then gave up the Kilcullen sac fly to score Reynholds. One last pop-up to Lopez got Kauffman out of the inning.

“It wasn’t only the changeup today,” Geroni said. “(Kauffman) spotted the hook, he hit the outside corner with the fastball. Clearly, when you have that pitch (the changeup) going, it’s very difficult for a hitter to sit changeup and react to everything else. They (CBA) started to sit changeup and in the late innings, he started to go with a heavier dose of the fastball.”

Lopez made his mark on Thursday’s game with his third-inning single, base-running and pristine defense at shortstop, including a back-handed play deep in the hole for the last out of the six and a slightly more routine play for the last out of the game. On Tuesday, however, the Louisiana State University commit unleashed what might have been Ranney’s biggest swing of the season when he crushed a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to break a 2-2 tie at CBA. He also started the game-ending 6-4-3 double-play to close out the first of two wins over the Colts.

“Those big moments really energize the dugout,” Kauffman said. “Ricky’s swing, that was sweet. We don’t ever give up and when you win a game like that, the confidence just goes way up. It was a huge moment for us and we’re playing with a lot of confidence now.”

“Before the eighth inning, we said, ‘It’s your season,” Geroni said. “It’s not the coaches’ season, it’s the kids’ season. You guys have to make a decision. Are you going to be tough enough and have enough self pride to take accountability to score runs and execute in these moments.’ Then Ricky hit a ball really, really well, but I think there is a mentality you have to have to comeback and win those games and I don’t think we had it, or at least showed it, before that first CBA game.”

After sweeping the Class A North series vs. CBA, Ranney will try to complete a three-game sweep of the Colts Saturday, when the teams once again convene at CBA in the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals. After splitting Tuesday’s win at CBA, Abrams and Gallina will be available to pitch and senior right-hander Noah Hynes could also figure into the equation if he is over some general soreness that Geroni said has kept him off the mound since his last start on April 14 at home vs. Red Bank Catholic.

“As a group, we’re really good at bouncing back,” Kauffman said. “If we have a couple tough losses in April or we’re not playing like we’re capable of playing, we know we’re going to put the work in to fix it. We all believe in each other that we’re going to be able to bounce back and put it all together once we get into May. Our goal here is to win a tournament championship.”