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Full Circle: Lone Senior Sparks Ranney to Monmouth County Title

Matt Manley|May 6, 2026|Last Updated May 6, 2026

MIDDLETOWN — When Ranney won its first Monmouth County Tournament championship in 2023, Noah Hynes watched from the bench as the only freshman on a team powered by upperclassmen.

Now Hynes is the only senior on Ranney’s 2026 baseball team and on Tuesday at Brookdale Community College, his younger teammates followed his lead as he powered them to the second county title during Hynes’s high-school career.

The senior right-hander came up one out shy of a two-hit complete game and pitched the Panthers — the No. 9 seed in the Monmouth County Tournament and the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 — topped sixth-seeded Howell, 5-2, to win the program’s second MCT championship in four years.

“It’s amazing,” Hynes said. “I was part of the 2023 team, but I was able to pitch this time so to be able to leave that legacy is something else. As a freshman, it was all about learning as much as I could and that’s what got us here.”

Hynes retired to first two batters of the bottom of the seventh inning before walking the last two batters he faced and crossing the single-game limit of 110 pitches in the process. He turned the ball over to junior right-hander J.L. Gallina having delivered 6 2/3 innings with two earned runs on two hits and four walks while striking out six.

“That was a senior outing,” Ranney coach Pat Geroni said. “He is our one active seniors. He is the only member from that 2023 team that is still here. He wanted the ball the whole time. He has been outstanding this year as a starting pitcher. He was our stopper early when we had trouble winning games. Knowing he had the ball today, you just knew he was going to have an amazing start.”

Ranney senior Noah Hynes. (Photo: Patrick Olivero) - Ranney vs. Howell MCT

Ranney senior Noah Hynes. (Photo: Patrick Olivero)

Tuesday was Hynes’s second start of the season against, which Hynes shut down on April 2 in a 12-0 Ranney win that avenged a 9-5 opening-day loss to Howell two days earlier. Hynes pitched five shutout innings with seven strikeouts and one walk in that win.

In his second start vs. Howell, Hynes again was lights-out through five innings. Following back-to-back strikeouts to end the bottom of the fifth, Hynes had pitched five scoreless frames on only 62 pitches with five strikeouts no walks and a first-inning infield single by Howell senior rightfielder Connor Halvorsen representing the lone hit against him. Following the infield single in the first, Hynes proceeded to set down the next 16 batters he faced.

“Whenever Noah is in his groove, I know we are going to win,” sophomore leftfielder Braden Cox said. “Seeing him getting this start today, we knew it was going to be his game from the start. Him being the only senior, it’s sad knowing this is his last year, but this is a great achievement for him leading us here.”

Meanwhile, Cox starred at the plate for Ranney by going 3-for-3 with an RBI double in the top of the second inning to go with a triple and a single in his next two at-bats. Cox opened the scoring with an RBI double to deep left-centerfield that scored sophomore Nico Owinrim, then crossed the plate on a two-out throwing error to make it 2-0.

“I was just thinking get a fastball and hit it to the right side or get a curveball and hit it to left-center,” Cox said. “I got my curveball and I didn’t miss it.”

Cox was in the starting lineup after not starting either of Ranney’s last two MCT wins over Christian Brothers Academy and Rumson-Fair Haven. The sophomore was dealing with a finger injury and showed he was feeling fine with his perfect showing at the plate on Tuesday.

Ranney sophomore Braden Cox slides into third base with a triple during the Monmouth County Tournament championship game vs. Howell. (Photo: Patrick Olivero) - Ranney vs. Howell MCT

Ranney sophomore Braden Cox slides into third base with a triple during the Monmouth County Tournament championship game vs. Howell. (Photo: Patrick Olivero)

“I was swinging a bat before playing (Rumson-Fair Haven in the semifinals) and I was swinging the bat today and it felt a lot better,” Cox said. “I told coach ‘I’m ready to go.'”

“He is an absolute tool shed,” Geroni said of Cox. “The power, the speed, the arm: it’s unbelievable talent-wise. He got hit in the finger at CBA and we didn’t know he went to the hospital after the game. He has had some trouble gripping the ball to throw it. He got cleared to play and I think it honestly loosened his top hand a little bit. He couldn’t overswing and I think that just relaxed him. If he swings the bat at 70 percent, he is still an absolute monster.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Cox nearly replicated his second-inning swing, this time stretching his two-out blast to the left-center warning track into a triple. Cox’s second hit did not drive in a run because Howell junior right-hander John Bertan picked off Owinrim between second and third base for the second out just before Cox launched his triple. Bertan then struck out the next better to strand Cox at third base.

Ranney added to its lead with three runs in the top of the fifth courtesy of three consecutive singles by junior shortstop Ricky Lopez, junior catcher Brody Garguilo and freshman first baseman Brody McCorkle, the last of which drove in Lopez from third base with Ranney’s third run. Bertan retired the next batter on a fly out to rightfield that moved courtesy runner Matt Luchi to third base and another two-out throwing error by the Rebels cost Bertan, this time with two Ranney runs crossing the plate as unearned runs against the Howell right-hander.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Hynes retired the first two batters before finally running into trouble. He walked senior shortstop Waylon Cavanagh, then hit Halvorsen before a wild pitch moved both runners up to second and third. Senior second baseman Ryan Todisco then punched a 3-2 curveball from Hynes into right-centerfield, where centerfielder Brody Mauro made a diving effort that came up empty. Both runs scored, Todisco cruised into second with a double, then raced to third after Cox lost the handle on the ball while trying to retrieve it. Hynes walked one more batter, then induced an inning-ending ground out to Nico Owimrin at third base.

“I just had to calm myself down and trust my stuff,” Hynes said. “I have to make sure I’m getting ahead in counts.”

“I thought he made some really good pitches,” Geroni said of Hynes. “Todisco did an amazing job with that 2-2 curveball. We played Howell two times and we hadn’t shown him a curveball once. It was probably 80 percent changeups and we tried to backdoor a hook thinking that he wouldn’t be ready for it and he stayed on it. Good piece of hitting for two runs.”

Gallina took over in the bottom of the seventh inning with runners on first and second and induced a come-backer to the mound that he flipped to first base for the final out of the game.

“In hindsight, we probably left him in a batter too long,” Geroni said. “But it’s two outs, you’re trying to get the senior the complete game, but Gallina got the job done.”

Since opening the season with a 2-6 record in its first eight games, Ranney has gone 7-2 with its only losses a 3-0 defeat at Manalapan and Monday’s 17-3 beat-down at the hands of DePaul while holding its top available pitchers for Tuesday’s game. Four of the wins during that stretch were MCT games, which came against Middletown South, CBA, Rumson-Fair Haven and Howell.

“We started 2-6,” Hynes said. “That’s obviously not what anyone wants. It was one of those situation where something was always off. If we hit the ball, our pitching wasn’t there. If we pitched well, we couldn’t score or our defense wasn’t there. We went to our indoor facility once Saturday and worked for hours. We had meetings and stuff like that to go over what we needed to do and everyone was all in and that’s what got us here.

“We want to be a top team every year. I’m leaving my legacy so that they carry it on, like the seniors did for me that 2023 year. That’s what I want.”

The Ranney baseball team celebrates winning the Monmouth County Tournament. (Photo: Patrick Olivero) - Ranney MCT Champs

The Ranney baseball team celebrates winning the Monmouth County Tournament. (Photo: Patrick Olivero)

 

Box Score

Ranney 5, Howell 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Ranney (9-8) 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 5 11 1
Howell (10-7) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 2

Pitching

Ranney IP H R ER BB SO PC
Noah Hynes (W, 3-1) 6.2 2 2 2 4 6 111
J.L. Gallina (SV, 1) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 3
Howell IP H R ER BB SO PC
John Bertan (L, 1-1) 5 9 5 2 1 3 84
Andrew Morin 2 2 0 0 0 1 31

Top Hitters

Ranney Game Stats
Braden Cox 3-3, 2B, 3B, R, RBI
Brody McCorkle 2-3, HBP, R, RBI, SB
Ricky Lopez 2-4, R, SB
Brody Garguilo 2-4
Nicco Owimrin 1-2, BB, R, SB
Howell Game Stats
Ryan Todisco 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI
Connor Halvorsen 1-2, HBP, R

 

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