South Non-Public A Final Preview: CBA Attempts to Solve St. Augustine

NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A Championship

Thursday, June 4, 2026

No. 5 Christian Brothers Academy at No. 2 St. Augustine, 4 p.m.

 

Teams at a Glance

CBA (18-8)

Head Coach: Marty Kenney Jr.
Last Sectional Title: 2025
Last Sectional Final Appearance: 2025

Road to the Final

First Round: Junior Luke Grbic pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and no walks and the Colts rode a balanced, 11-hit attack to an 8-1 win over No. 11 Camden Catholic.

Quarterfinals: Junior Michael Knox went 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBI while senior Danny DiTullio spun six strong innings with eight strikeouts and no walks as CBA rolled through No. 4 Union Catholic, 9-2.

Semifinals: Alex Fiore kept two runs off the board with an inning-ending, diving catch in the fifth inning and later crushed the tie-breaking solo home run to deliver CBA a 1-0 win over top-seeded Immaculata in eight innings. Dan Pardini extended his streak to 25 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run and junior Declan Doogan followed him with 3 1/3 scoreless frames to earn the win.

 

Projected Lineup (2026 Stats)

Jayden Matejicka, Sr., CF (.381, 24 H, 5 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 25 R, 21 RBI, 16 SB)

Jared Matejicka, Sr., 1B (.284, 19 H, 4 2B, 1 3B, 16 R, 18 RBI, 6 SB)

Dylan Reynholds, Jr., 2B (.408, 31 H, 3 2B, 3 3B, 22 R, 18 RBI, 4 SB)

Ryan Wetmore, Jr., DH (.341, 29 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 15 R, 19 RBI, 2 SB)

Colin Hoverter, Sr., SS (.372, 28 H, 4 2B, 3 3B, 16 R, 14 RBI, 6 SB)

Michael Knox, Jr., 3B (.397, 25 H, 2 2B, 2 HR, 17 R, 13 RBI, 3 SB)

Griffin Kilcullen, Jr., C (.271, 13 H, 5 2B, 2 HR, 9 R, 17 RBI)

Parker Hughes, Sr., LF (.333, 16 H, 2 2B, 16 R, 10 RBI, 2 SB)

Alex Fiore, Jr., RF (.321, 17 H, 6 2B, 1 HR, 15 R, 12 RBI, 1 SB)

 

Projected Starting Pitcher (2026 Stats)

Danny DiTullio, Sr., LHP (5-0, 36 IP, 35 H, 9 BB, 45 SO, 2.33 ERA) – 110 available pitches

 

Available in Relief

Declan Doogan, Jr., RHP (4-2, 3 Saves, 21.1 IP, 16 H, 8 BB, 25 SO, 3.61 ERA) – 107 available pitches

Luke Grbic, Jr., RHP (3-1, 21.1 IP, 19 H, 2 BB, 22 SO, 1.64 ERA) – 110 available pitches

Andrew DiMarsico, Jr., RHP (0-2, 11.1 IP, 15 H, 5 BB, 8 SO, 5.56 ERA) – 110 available pitches

Brian Kissinger, Jr., RHP (1 Save, 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1.83 ERA) – 110 available pitches

Gavin Peters, So., RHP (1-0, 7 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 7 SO, 3.00 ERA) – 110 available pitches

 

Ineligible

Dan Pardini, Sr., LHP

 

 

St. Augustine (21-7)

Head Coach: Mike Ney
Last Sectional Championship: 2024
Last Sectional Final Appearance: 2024

Road to the Final

First Round: Bye

Quarterfinals: New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year Alex Weingartner led a group of three Hermits pitchers that combined on a two-hitter and St. Augustine blanked No. 10 Pingry, 8-0. Ethan Suppi and Brady Jackson each hit a triple and D.J. Lloyd drove in three to lead the offense. Jackson also closed out the game on the mound after Weingartner struck out eight over five innings and D.J. Eddis pitched the sixth.

Semifinals: Weingartner drilled a walk-off grand slam with none out in the bottom of the seventh inning to deliver St. Augustine a 7-4 win over Red Bank Catholic. Five pitchers combined to get the Hermits through the game, with Jackson earning the win in relief while also hitting a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 3-3. Adam Williams tripled home a run two batters earlier and scored on the Jackson single. In the bottom of the seventh, three consecutive walks loaded the bases for Weingarten and the Penn State commit smoked a 1-2 curveball to end the game.

 

Projected Lineup (2026 Stats)

Alex Weingartner, Sr., P (.506, 43 H, 7 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 44 R, 36 RBI, 30 SB)

Brady Jackson, Sr., SS (.206, 7 H, 2 3B, 1 HR, 10 R, 5 RBI, 10 SB)

D.J. Lloyd, Sr., C (.311, 28 H, 4 2B, 1 HR, 6 R, 24 RBI, 2 SB)

John Eddis, Jr., 1B (.354, 23 H, 7 2B, 28 R, 15 RBI, 5 SB)

Hank Biglin, Sr., LF (.365, 27 H, 3 2B, 5 3B, 29 R, 26 RBI, 6 SB)

Ethan Suppi, Jr., CF (.346, 27 H, 7 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 27 R, 28 RBI, 7 SB)

Brody Taylor, Fr., RF (.329, 24 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 20 R, 20 RBI, 2 SB)

Austin Gilson, Sr., 2B (.321, 26 H, 4 2B, 19 R, 18 RBI, 5 SB)

Adam Williams, Sr., 3B (.232, 19 H, 1 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 27 R, 19 RBI, 4 SB)

 

Projected Starting Pitcher (2026 Stats)

Alex Weingartner, Sr., RHP (5-1, 34.1 IP, 14 H, 11 BB, 64 SO, 1.02 ERA) – 110 available pitches

 

Available in Relief (2026 Stats)

John Eddis, Jr., RHP (3-2, 28 IP, 15 H, 32 BB, 43 SO, 3.50 ERA) – 110 available pitches

Luke Tanzola, Jr., (4-1, 31.2 IP, 42 H, 24 BB, 28 SO, 5.08 ERA) – 106 available pitches

Brady Jackson, Sr., RHP (1-0, 1 Save, 5 IP, 1 H, 4 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA) – 110 available pitches

 

Ineligible

Ethan Suppi, Jr., LHP

 

Prediction

It has been at least 25 games since St. Augustine has lost on its home field in an NJSIAA Tournament game and CBA has felt the sting of losing on the Hermits home field several times during that stretch, including two years ago in the South Non-Public A semifinals. Whatever can happen in the last inning or two of a game to swing the result in favor of the home team does tend to happen, as Red Bank Catholic found out Tuesday in crushing fashion.

To make things even tougher for CBA, St. Augustine will send Penn State commit and Gatorade Player of the Year Alex Weingartner to the mound sporting a 1.02 ERA this season. Weingartner has topped out at 90 pitches this year and typically goes 75-to-80, so it likely won’t take much for the Colts to work him off the mound before the seventh inning, at which point CBA can take its chances against a solid but more ordinary collection of pitchers.

On the other side, Danny DiTullio will throw yet another big game during what has been a three-year stretch full of them. With Weingartner opposing him, DiTullio will have to be sharp from pitch one. If there is one nitpick for both DiTullio and fellow left-hander Dan Pardini during their outstanding month-long stretch, it is that they tend to settle in over the first inning or two before finding a groove.

Both lineups are exceedingly dangerous, with CBA’s lineup on fire during an 11-game winning streak despite scoring only one run in Tuesday’s win at Immaculata. There are no breaks in either lineup, so while the two pitchers on the mound are big-game tested and capable of spinning a gem, it’s hard to see either keeping the opposing offense completely silent.

Winning at St. Augustine against Weingartner is a gargantuan task for DiTullio and CBA and if this surging Colts can’t do it, it is hard to imagine anyone in South Jersey that could. It could happen for CBA on Thursday, but history says when St. Augustine gets the last turn at bat in a state tournament game, the Hermits don’t lose. It’s hard to pick against this CBA squad but it’s even harder to pick against history.

The Pick: St. Augustine, 5-4