RBC Baseball Team Loses Sectional Final,
Gains Motivation for Next Year
20 JULY 2021 | TheJournalNJ.com
BY TIM MORRIS
Red Bank Catholic’s baseball season may have had a nightmare ending,
but the season overall was anything but that. In a campaign that began
with huge question marks because of the lost 2020 season and the
team’s relative youth, RBC did not miss a beat, winning 20 games and a pair
of championships.
“It’s not easy to win 20 games any season,” said Casey Head Coach Buddy
Hausmann. “We’ve done it six years in a row.”
North Division championship and repeating as Shore Conference Tournament
champions. However, it is the championship that got away, the NJSIAA
Non-Public A South Jersey crown, that will weigh heavily on the season. It
game the Caseys led 5-0 after two innings and let slip away. A two-out error
in the seventh opened the door for St. Augustine to tie the game and then
win it in the eighth.
“The game was over,” lamented Hausmann, who was seeking to bring
make six errors in a championship game and win.”
Hausmann noted that he thought the Caseys overall inexperience may
“We were trying to hang on and played not to lose,” he said. “We
played young.”
campaign, one done under trying circumstances and challenges.
“It was a new group. We only had three returning starters,”
Hausmann pointed out. “I was surprised at how some of the freshmen
stepped up. We played them more than usual. I really think the lost
year to the pandemic hurt these kids a lot. In the middle of the season,
I was still teaching them things.”
The challenge, Hausmann noted, was that sophomores had never
played high school ball because of the lost season and most of the juniors
had not played varsity baseball before. Yet, they banded together
to bring more championships to the program.
Hausmann gave credit for RBC’s success this spring to its senior
class led by returning starters pitcher Shane Panzini, shortstop Sean
“The whole senior class did a tremendous job teaching the younger
kids helping them come along,” said Hausmann. “It was as good of
leadership that I’ve had.”
Panzini was everything expected of him and more – which is say-
year (8-0). He won the club’s two biggest games, tossing a shutout in
the Casey’s 7-0 win over Middletown South in the Shore Conference
fanned 12 and allowed just three hits in leading RBC to the 6-1 victory.
The senior, who has committed to the University of Virginia, was
dominant in every game he pitched. He threw 55.1 innings and allowed
just seven earned runs and 24 hits. He fanned 101 batters and
walked just 17. He had a season-high 15 strikeouts against Delbarton.
Despite all his brilliance, Hausmann said that for Panzini, it was
always about team and not him.
Panzini now awaits to see where he goes in the annual Major
League Baseball Draft and if it is high enough to lure him away from
Virginia. The Caseys wouldn’t have won 20 games and accomplished
what they did in tournament play without depth behind their ace.
Senior Dylan Wanagiel was the hurler who stepped up to provide
that second ace, going 5-1. He pitched 5.2 scoreless innings for the win
in RBC’s 4-0 win over St. Joseph, Metuchen in the state sectional.
The others who came through for RBC included sophomores Alex
Stanyek and Dominic Mallamaci as well as freshman Declan Leary.
The underclassmen will be at the top of the rotation next spring.
Sophomores Frank Scrivanic and Stanyek were the leading run produc-
Panzini provided the pop in the line-up with nine extra base that
producing was balanced as Borriello (21), Panzini (19), Frank Scrivinac
(18) and junior Matt Scrivanic (17) all had big RBI seasons.
As haunting as the NJSIAA Non-Public A South Jersey loss was, the
returning Caseys will not lack for motivation next year.
Twin Lights Historical
Society Receives Grant
The Twin Lights Historical Society received a $9,600 grant from
the New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund, Society president
-
nine in Monmouth County to receive grants from $2.6 million allocated
in the fund’s initial rounds of grant making.
Each year through its employment of an operations manager/
historian, the society assists The New Jersey State Park Service with
-
ety’s Museum Store. While the site's historian, Nicholas Wood, leads
the way for new exhibitions, the contributions and assistance made by
the society are an integral part of the site's success.
“For over a year, our society has been without our two largest
sources of income, namely sales from our Museum Store on site
and cash donations placed into the donation boxes located inside
the State Historic Site,” Tyler said. “In order to make up the income
shortfall, our society successfully obtained over $6,000 in PPP loans
to offset some payroll expenses, and a $5,000 New Jersey Council on
the Humanities grant that enabled the society to build a new website
with an online Museum Store last December.”
The Twin Lights State Historic Site is owned and operated by the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. For more information,
visit TwinLightsLighthouse.org, Twin Lights Historical Society
on Facebook, or call 732-872-1814. Grounds are open daily from 9 am
to 4:30 pm.
/TheJournalNJ.com
/TwinLightsLighthouse.org