Gloucester Catholic baseball secures 22nd state title via team effort at the plate

The Gloucester Catholic High School baseball team poses with the New Jersey Non-Public B trophy after defeating Pope John, 7-4, at Veterans Park in Hamilton, New Jersey on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Collin Conway/D2 Sports Network

HAMILTON - The Gloucester Catholic baseball team stood atop the mountain of state championships it has won in New Jersey. The Rams extended their lead to 22 state titles on Wednesday at Veterans Park.

Gloucester Catholic downed Pope John, 7-4, to complete a "three-peat" for the Rams.

Things weren't all sunshine and rainbows for Gloucester Catholic at first. Pope John scratched across a run in each of the first two innings, following it up with lockdown defense and a few lucky bounces.

Then the Rams would turn the tide and find their offense in the third inning. East Carolina commit Braeden Lipoff shot a single to right field to score the first run of the game for Gloucester Catholic.

The home side then broke the game open in the fourth inning, sparked by a Brody Gates leadoff double followed by a perfectly placed bunt single by Virginia commit Noah Danza. Henry Pancoast and Jude Morgan drove the duo in to taking the lead. Auburn commit Guy Lynam and Lipoff added insurance with a pair of RBI singles. Jack Mustaro capped the outburst with a fifth consecutive RBI single.

"We've got the mentality to just keep passing the bat," Lynam said. "Yeah, we can hit home runs or doubles or triples when we're at home or any ball park. At the end of the day, we're trying to get on base. If we hit singles all game to get runs across, that's fine, as long as we find a way to win."

Coastal Carolina signee Jackson Smallets settled in after a shaky first few innings and dialed up four straight scoreless frames before Pope John added a pair of runs in the seventh inning. The senior finished the game tossing 6.1 innings and allowing five hits, four runs (three earned), four walks, and two hit batters paired with just three strikeouts. Smallets finishes his career with 92 punch-outs and a 1.49 earned run average.

"He's a hard worker," Lipoff said. "Today, he may not have had his best stuff or gotten that many strikeouts, but he put us in a position to win regardless. Getting to know him over the past few seasons, I know that he's going to put his best effort out there. We've gotten on the same page, which makes my job easier when we have that connection."

Immaculata commit Sal Marziani slammed the door shut with 0.2 innings of relief, allowing just one hit, locking up Gloucester Catholic's 22nd state title in program history. The victory makes it three consecutive titles in New Jersey Non-Public B and five in the last eight years.

"The next trophy is always the best one," Gloucester Catholic coach Dennis Barth said. "This feeling never gets old, and the kids make it worth it every year. It takes so much to win a state title, and to do it for three years straight, that's no easy task. They've worked for this since day 1 every season. Most of these kids have been playing since the first one we won, and now they have two or three rings. It was great to get this one, but I know next year they're going to work even harder to make it four straight."