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Ready for Anything: RBC Tops CBA, Wins Monmouth County Championship

Matt Manley|May 20, 2025|Last Updated May 20, 2025

MIDDLETOWN — If Luke Meyers has learned anything in his four years in the Red Bank Catholic baseball program, it is to be ready for anything. The senior right-hander has proven to be as reliable as any pitcher on the Caseys pitching staff, so much so that he was tabbed to start the Shore Conference Tournament championship game scheduled for Wednesday night.

Just when he thought his job for the week was set, however, the plans changed Tuesday afternoon at Brookdale Community College against Christian Brothers Academy in the Monmouth County Tournament championship game. Meyers was supposed to have the day off from pitching as he prepares for the SCT final, but with RBC’s first county title in seven years hanging in the balance, the Caseys needed their ready-for-anything senior.

RBC chased junior left-hander and Virginia commit Sean Loggie by scoring five runs in the first two innings and Meyers recorded the final six outs to save the win for another Virginia commit, Ryan Prior, as the Caseys topped the Colts, 8-3, to win the MCT championship for the first time since 2018.

“I was ready to start today,” said Meyers, who was originally Plan A for Tuesday until Red Bank Catholic and Brick Memorial won their Shore Conference Tournament semifinals on Monday, which prompted RBC coach Buddy Hausmann to change his plans by starting Prior on seven days of rest rather than Meyers on just four. “I did my preparation yesterday and I was ready to go, so that helped me today. I wasn’t completely cold, I was stretched out, my arm felt great.

“But I didn’t think I was going to pitch today. I was thinking I was going to be ready to throw 110 (pitches) on Wednesday. I was just locked in. The mindset has to be when somebody tells me to go in, I’m going to go in and compete.”

Ryan Prior (22) and Dylan Passo (12) hold the Monmouth County Tournament trophy while surrounded by their Red Bank Catholic teammates. (Photo: Matt Manley) - RBC MCT Champs

Ryan Prior (22) and Dylan Passo (12) hold the Monmouth County Tournament trophy while surrounded by their Red Bank Catholic teammates. (Photo: Matt Manley)

All three of RBC’s pitchers on Tuesday — Prior, freshman Sam French and Meyers — pitched out of trouble against a CBA team that stranded 10 baserunners in its 2-1 loss to Brick Memorial Monday in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals and topped that number with 16 left on base on Tuesday. The Colts left 11 runners in scoring position, stranded the bases loaded in four different innings and hit 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position, including 1-for-their-last-13.

After giving up one run and stranding the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, French returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth and loaded the bases with none out on a pair of errors that bookended a walk. RBC then called on Meyers to deal with another bases-loaded threat by CBA and the senior coaxed a shallow fly out, struck out the next batter and ended the inning with a come-backer to the mound that kept CBA off the board with RBC still in the lead, 7-3.

“Bases loaded, nobody out, I already know that, no matter, what I have to go in and execute,” Meyers said. “I just had to attack them and had to throw strikes and see what they were going to do with it. If I let up a walk, they score and they go crazy and know that’s in my head.”

“That’s the toughest situation you could possibly have,” RBC senior first baseman Dylan Passo said. “He did a great job. He has been mentally preparing for moments like this all season. Last year, he didn’t get these kind of opportunities and he worked really hard this offseason so that he could be the guy who can get us out of that jam and get us the win.”

RBC added an insurance run thanks to Passo, who led off with an opposite-field double to the leftfield fence, moved to third on a sacrifice by Dantoni and scored on a shallow sacrifice fly by Charlie Stumberger that CBA third baseman Dan Russo caught with his back to home plate.

Meyers threw 13 pitches in the sixth inning, which left him 18 shy of becoming ineligible to pitch on Wednesday. To make matters more unnerving for RBC, Prior and French had both pitched past the limit that would allow them to pitch on Wednesday, as did Monday’s starter vs. Jackson Memorial, Glen Popes.

“I knew I only had about 30 pitches that I could throw because anything more and I couldn’t throw on Wednesday,” Meyers said. “I expected to start warming up in the third inning, just in case. Then French went down (to the bullpen), (Joe) Mauro went down, then I went down. I didn’t have that much time to warm up, so I tried to execute.”

Meyers nevertheless returned to the mound in the seventh and gave up an infield single to Justin Fuerbacher with one out and had two outs left to record with 20 pitches thrown. The senior right-hander got CBA catcher and RBI leader Dan Tsimbinos (30 RBI) to tap back to the mound on the first pitch for the second out of the inning. After firing strike one to Dylan Iwanyk, he induced another ground ball that shortstop Max Dantoni grabbed moving to his left and threw to first while on the run for the final out of the game.

Meyers took a bow in the general direction of the CBA dugout to end another heated battle between the two rivals as the RBC dugout poured onto the field  for the celebration.

With 23 pitches in his two-inning save, Meyers remained eligible to pitch on Wednesday if Red Bank Catholic and Brick Memorial play as scheduled at 7 p.m. at Lakewood’s ShoreTown Ballpark. Rain in the forecast for both Wednesday and Thursday is threatening a Wednesday night SCT final, which was part of Hausmann’s thinking in deciding to send Meyers back out for the seventh.

“‘These guys were hammering me all day: ‘What about tomorrow,'” Hausmann said of his players and coaches. “I wanted to be sure. I even checked the weather for tomorrow one more time on my phone before I walked out to the mound to put (Meyers) in the game. This weather has been weird and when it came down to it, we just had to win today.”

Between a solid junior season as a spot starter in RBC’s deep, balanced pitching staff in 2024 and the start of 2025, Meyers made himself into one of the Shore’s most consistent pitchers. After Tuesday’s performance, he is 6-0 with a save in 28 2/3 innings, during which he has struck out 35, walked 10 and posted an ERA of 1.22.

“Coming into the season, I expected to be one of the main guys but things started a little slow for me,” Meyers said. “As a bullpen pitcher, you have to be ready for anything and that was my job. I had to be ready to come into any circumstance, any game.

“I have that mentality that I’m that guy. No one is going to beat me. If I just throw a strike as hard as I can and I attack, not much is going to happen. I have an amazing outfield and an amazing infield behind me, so if I pitch to contact, they will field it for me.”

Red Bank Catholic senior Luke Meyers flips to first base to end the bottom of the sixth in the 2025 Monmouth County Tournament final. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com) - RBC Luke Meyers

Red Bank Catholic senior Luke Meyers flips to first base to end the bottom of the sixth in the 2025 Monmouth County Tournament final. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

Within the last two weeks, he also received a Division I offer from Bucknell University, to which he verbally committed, according to Hausmann.

“He throws strikes,” Hausmann said. “He throws multiple pitches for strikes, his velocity has gotten better, he’s confident, but the main thing is he fills up the zone. Especially in high school, you need to do that to be successful.”

Loggie dominated RBC in a 10-0 CBA win on April 24, pitching a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks. On Tuesday, however, the Caseys jumped on the 6-foot-5 southpaw for four runs in the top of the first. Passo ripped the first pitch of the game through the right side for a single and senior Jake Frankel later delivered the big hit during the first inning — a two-run single that put RBC on top, 2-0. The Caseys capped the four-run rally by scoring on a ground out by A.J. Sciametta and a wild pitch. RBC added another run in the top of the second on two walks and two wild pitches to go up 5-0.

“Typically, with guys that throw hard like (Loggie), they try to get the first pitch in the strike zone to set the tone,” Passo said. “Knowing that, I wanted to reverse that and make sure that we set the tone the right way. So I get that first pitch, that’s what I’m waiting for. I think setting the tone like that as a leadoff hitter, it rattles the pitcher a little bit. On our side, it helps our confidence and makes us go in aggressive. We ended up scoring four runs and getting into their bullpen early.”

Although CBA fell into a 5-0 hole, the Colts made Prior labor through his four innings of work on the mound. It took the RBC senior right-hander 32 pitches to work through a scoreless first inning and 33 more to get through the second, during which CBA notched its first run of the game. Shortstop Colin Hoverter singled into leftfield to score fellow junior Jayden Matejicka, who led off the inning with a single, and CBA was within 5-1 with two on and none out.

As was a theme throughout its back-to-back losses on Monday and Tuesday, CBA struggled to capitalize on its opportunities with runners on base. CBA left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first and after Hoverter’s single got the Colts on the board, Prior got out of the inning with a fly out to right, a walk to load the bases with one out, a fielder’s choice ground out to Drew Cannon at third base to nab the runner at home, and another fly out to right.

Prior walked two more in the third inning, but again worked around the logjam on the bases with two strikeouts and an inning-ending ground out to Max Dantoni at shortstop.

Senior Shane Langan took over on the mound for CBA in the top of the third inning and struck out the side on 11 pitches before his defense let him down in the top of the fourth. Drew Cannon led off the inning with a single and moved to second on an errant back-pick attempt to first base.

CBA elected to walk Passo intentionally and nearly paid off the decision with a potential double-play ground ball to first base, but the return throw to first was off-target and got away far enough for Cannon to score from second on the error. Dantoni then stole third base and scored on a missed-catch error on the throw to make it 7-1 in favor of the Caseys.

RBC put its base-running prowess on display Tuesday, with Passo and Dantoni combining for three stolen bases to go with aggressive base-running in other situation. Dantoni took third on a wild pitch that Tsimbinos blocked in the second inning and scored when the ball got to the backstop later in the at-bat. Passo, meanwhile, took advantage of Russo turning his back to the infield to catch Stumberger’s shallow pop-up in foul territory by tagging up and scoring RBC’s eighth run.

“Our coaches preach that a walk is as good as a hit and that those extra 90 feet make all the difference,” Passo said. “At the beginning of the inning I’m on second. Max, being unselfish, gets a bunt down to get me to third and then we’re able to score on Charlie hitting the ball down the leftfield line. We take the game 90 feet at a time, don’t try to do too much and pass the bat to the next guy.”

Passo also raced into second to break up the potential double-play in the fourth, which led to the errant throw to first that allowed Cannon to steamroll around third base and to the plate after starting the play on second base.

“We said going into the year that this is probably the most team speed we have had in a long time,” Hausmann said. “One through nine, every guy can run. Usually there is one or two guys you don’t want to see on the bases but no, we have nine guys who can be a factor on the bases.”

CBA got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double by Tsimbinos with one out after centerfielder Will Fahey led off with a single through the middle and stole second base. Courtesy runner Nick Pascucci stole second base with two out and Ryan Wetmore drew the third of his four walks in the game, but Prior picked him off at first base to end the CBA threat with RBC still ahead, 7-2.

Red Bank Catholic senior Ryan Prior. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com) - RBC Ryan Prior

Red Bank Catholic senior Ryan Prior. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

Senior right-hander Jack Dufficy gave CBA a chance to come back by pitching clean innings in both the fifth and sixth. On the other side, the Caseys turned to freshman Sam French to take over on the mound after Prior threw 108 pitches in four innings. French started strong with a pair of fly outs, but issued four straight free passes — three walks and a hit-by-pitch — to give CBA its third run before getting Tsimbinos to fly out to centerfield as the final out of the bottom of the fifth.

Tuesday’s clash was the third meeting this season between CBA and RBC and the Caseys took a 2-1 advantage in the series with one more game potentially in the works should both teams cross paths in the NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A section. RBC handed CBA its first loss of the season, 7-6, in a game that saw the Colts rally to tie the game after falling behind, 6-0. CBA then rode Loggie’s six-inning gem to a 10-0 win in game two of the regular-season series on the way to winning the outright Shore Conference Class A North division championship.

“It’s good that we are in a competitive division because now, we are facing top guys over and over and over again,” Passo said. “Now, we’re ready when we face Loggie. Not that it’s not hard, but it’s easier when you’re facing 85, 88 (miles-per-hour) to Loggie throwing low-to-mid 90’s as opposed to facing 70’s, low-80’s and then having to step up to face the elite pitchers. I think we’re just more prepared because of that. Our division record was disappointing, but it doesn’t reflect how good we are. Winning these championships at this time of year is more important.”

Red Bank Catholic finished third in the Class A North standings behind both CBA and Ranney, but has owned the tournaments against both teams. The Caseys beat Ranney, 12-2, in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals and have outscored opponents during both the MCT and SCT by a cumulative score of 63-13, including 30-3 in three SCT games. Among the teams RBC has beaten during the postseason are Class B North champion Colts Neck, Class C South division leader Brick, Class A South runner-up Jackson Memorial and 15-win Ocean.

“We finally have all our guys back,” Passo said. “We’re the best hitting team, we’re the best fielding team, we’re the best pitching team right now, so it’s tough to beat us. The only way for somebody to beat us right now is if we beat ourselves. Every guy that steps up to the plate, I’m confident that they are going to get a hit or get on. I can’t say I’ve felt that way all four years here, so I feel like this is one of our best shots in recent history that we have had to win all of these championships.”

Red Bank Catholic senior Dylan Passo leads off first base, with CBA senior Justin Fuerbacher holding him on. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com) - RBC Dylan Passo

Red Bank Catholic senior Dylan Passo leads off first base, with CBA senior Justin Fuerbacher holding him on. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
RBC (17-5) 4 1 0 2 0 0 1 8 4 2
CBA (18-4) 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 6 4

Pitching

Red Bank Catholic IP H R ER BB SO PC
Ryan Prior (W, 3-2 4 6 2 2 6 3 108
Sam French 1 0 1 1 4 0  37
Luke Meyers (SV, 1) 2 1 0 0 0 1 23
CBA IP H R ER BB SO PC
Sean Loggie (L, 5-1) 2 2 5 5 4 4 55
Shane Langan 2 1 2 0 1 5 34
Jack Dufficy 3 1 1 1 0 4 42

Top Hitters

Red Bank Catholic Game Stats
Dylan Passo 2-2, 2B, 2 BB, 2 R, SB
Jake Frankel 1-4, R, 2 RBI
Drew Cannon 1-3, R
CBA Game Stats
Dan Tsimbinos 2-5, 2B, RBI
Colin Hoverter 1-3, HBP, RBI
Jayden Matejicka 1-3, BB, R
Will Fahey 1-4, BB, R, SB
Ryan Wetmore 4 BB

 

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