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RBC Blows Big Lead But Survives to Upset No. 1 CBA

Matt Manley|April 22, 2025|Last Updated April 22, 2025

RED BANK — After pitching with a total of 3 runs of support over his past two starts, Red Bank Catholic senior Ryan Prior finally looked like he was in position to earn a win Tuesday and it was shaping up to be a big one. He and his Caseys —  ranked No. 2 in the Shore Sports Insider Baseball Top 10 — held a six-run lead on No. 1 Christian Brothers Academy heading into the sixth inning. Furthermore, Prior sat at 68 pitches and had yet to allow a walk.

Then, Prior’s snake-bit start to the season reared its head in the form of a six-run sixth inning that included three walks, two errors and enough pitches to knock the RBC ace from the game.

When the Caseys finally returned to the dugout at the end of the inning, senior captain Dylan Passo expected to have to pick up Prior with words of encouragement. Instead, it was the other way around.

“If I was him in that situation, I would have been on the bench screaming and blaming my teammates,” Passo said of Prior. “He was the first one out shaking everyone’s hands and I feel like that really helped everyone put that inning behind them and make sure we get the next one.”

“It’s a tie game, we let up six runs and he is the first one cheering for everyone to make sure we got that win,” senior shortstop Max Dantoni said. “He’s a team-first player.”

After weathering the six-inning storm, Red Bank Catholic bounced back to score the winning run when Passo raced to the plate ahead of a throw home from the CBA infield giving the Caseys a wild, 7-6, walk-off win over the Colts. The loss is the first of the season for CBA, which entered Tuesday with a Shore-Conference-leading eight-game winning streak.

“It feels great to get this win,” said Dantoni, who was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles on Tuesday. “There are definitely some things we have to clean up. The errors we gave Ryan, we’ve got to help him out a little more. But we always had the confidence that we were going to beat them. We always feel that way. We want to prove to everyone that we could, potentially, be the number one team in the Shore too.”

Through five innings, everything was going the Caseys’ way. RBC scored three runs apiece in the third and fifth innings to open up a commanding 6-0 lead over CBA with its University of Virginia-bound ace on the mound and in control. In the top of the sixth, however, CBA took advantage of Prior’s only walks of the game, as well as a pair of errors.

“This is the third time he has pitched really well and we haven’t been able to get the win for him,” Passo said of Prior. “He deserves way better. Personally, as captain of the team, I feel like it’s kind of on me to make sure he gets the performance from his kids that he deserves. Hopefully, everyone can feel the same way.”

Prior entered the sixth with no walks on his ledger, but walked the first two batters of the inning. The runner on second — Jayden Matejicka — got caught between first and second, but an errant throw on the run down allowed Colin Hoverter to score from second and freed up Matejicka to advance to third. Jared Matejicka then drove in his twin brother with an RBI ground out to trim RBC’s lead to 6-2.

Prior then induced a fly out to leftfield for the second out and jumped ahead of third baseman Dan Russo, 1-2, in the count. Russo, however, battled his way to a 10-pitch walk to extend the inning for Parker Hughes, who also battled out of a 1-2 count to get to 3-2 and flipped a single into rightfield that scored Russo, who had advanced to second base on a wild pitch.

Hughes then advanced to second on a passed ball and got the stop sign from CBA coach Marty Kenny Jr. at third base on a single through the left side by sophomore centerfielder A.J. Fiore, who then stole second base with classmate Ryan Wetmore representing the tying run at home plate. Wetmore lined a single into the centerfield to pick up two RBI and the ball got past sophomore Luke Scaturro and rolled all the way to the face. Wetmore circled the bases and scored to tie the game, 6-6.

Senior right-hander Luke Meyers relieved Prior and worked out of the sixth inning, then pitched around a two-out double by CBA catcher Dan Tsimbinos to spin a scoreless top of the seventh.

“Luke did a great job,” Passo said. “He has been waiting for his big opportunity all season. He has been patient. In practice, he is throwing his bullpens, he is doing his plyos, he is the first one out in all the drills, so I knew he was going to be ready to step up in a big moment. I could see a lot more of that in his future.”

In the bottom of the seventh, RBC also led off with a pair of walks to start its rally, with Scaturro and Passo both reaching on free passes. Jack Dufficy then replaced Dan Pardini on the mound for CBA and senior shortstop Max Dantoni laid down a bunt between the mound and the third-base line. Dufficy took a chance on a play at third base, but Scaturro dove into the bag before the throw made it to Russo at third, giving the Caseys the bases loaded with none out.

“We just wanted to get our hitters up to the plate and keep passing the baton,” Passo said. “No one went up there selfish. Sometimes guys are up there trying to hit a walk-off home run. We had a walk, another walk a bunt, and then guys were just trying to hit something on the ground — not strike out, not pop out — to try to get the winning run in. I think everyone did a really good job playing for the team.”

Junior Charlie Stumberg hit a slow ground ball to Russo at third and the CBA senior threw home for the first out. RBC home run and RBI leader Jake Frankel then stepped in and after fouling off two two-strike offerings from Dufficy, he put the ball in play to the left side of the infield. Russo and the shortstop, Hoverter, converged on the ball at the same time and Hoverter got there first as he ran into his teammate. Hoverter still managed to make an accurate throw to the plate, but Passo slid in before the ball reached Tsimbinos, who could not hold onto the throw anyway.

“Anything that was on the ground, I wasn’t going to let them throw me out,” Passo said. “I saw a chopper in between shortstop and third and I knew there was no chance. I put myself in the right position to make a play. I saw that play in my head and I knew I had it.”

Scaturro, Passo and Dantoni were in the middle of all three RBC scoring rallies on Tuesday. Designated hitter Miles Nessan led off the third inning with an infield hit and held up at third base on a double by Scaturro down the rightfield line. Passo then legged out an infield single on a ground ball to second base for a 1-0 RBC lead and Dantoni followed with an RBI single to centerfield that made it 2-0 and kept runners on the corners.

Passo ran on contact on a ground ball by Stumberger and was tagged out in a rundown, which allowed Dantoni to reach third and give the Caseys runners on the corners again with two out. Dantoni then scored on the back end of double-steal to extend the RBC lead to 3-0.

Scaturro started the fifth-inning threat by beating out a ground ball to the left side for an infield single. Passo then punched a single through the middle and Dantoni ripped an RBI single through the left side of the infield and both runners moved up on the throw home, which was too late to get Scaturro.

Stumberger then ripped a two-run double to the right-center gap for a 6-0 Caseys lead. The two-run double also chased CBA junior left-hander Danny DiTullio after 4 1/3 innings.

“We knew he likes to work early (in the count) off his offspeed, so we were trying to preach being aggressive on that,” Passo said. “Keep fouling off the high-and-away fastballs, which is usually his out pitch when he is working backwards. He has that three-quarters arm slot, for for righties, everything is tailing away, so it was important for them to not pull their shoulder out and work up the middle and the other way.”

Both CBA and RBC played through injury issues on their rosters Tuesday. The Caseys started freshman Matt Lazzaro at catcher with Aiden Funk recovering from a broken thumb that will keep him out of action for four-to-six weeks, according to RBC coach Buddy Hausmann. CBA, meanwhile, remains without starting centerfielder Will Fahey, who is nursing a hamstring injury.

Dantoni missed three of RBC’s last four games with a sore back, according to Hausmann, with the one game from Dantoni coming as as centerfielder when the Caseys were limited in their options against Middletown South on April 16. Tuesday was Dantoni’s first game back at shortstop since a 2-1 loss to Ranney on April 10 and he made a major impact at the plate.

“We definitely have a couple injured players,” Dantoni said. “Aiden is a huge loss for us, but he is doing everything he can to come back. I was just coming back from missing four games and it’s getting better every day. I’m figuring out how to deal with it and it’s much better now and I felt good out there today.”

Tuesday’s pitching matchup was a rematch of last year’s Shore Conference Tournament semifinal classic between the two local rivals. CBA pulled out a 5-4 win over RBC on the way to winning the SCT.

“We faced him last year and he did a great job,” Dantoni said. “He is always outside: slider outside, mostly soft stuff, but he’ll work that fastball too. I knew coming into today, I had to look for that outside pitch and I was seeing the ball great.”

The two top teams in the Shore Conference will play again on Thursday in the regular-season finale, but it likely won’t be the last meeting between the two teams in 2025. CBA and RBC are the top two seeds in the Monmouth County Tournament and again will play in the South Jersey Non-Public A bracket come June.

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