Gloucester Catholic loses to St. Mary’s of Rutherford in Non-Public B state baseball championship
The Rams fell short in their bid for their 20th state crown, losing 4-3 to St.Mary's of Rutherford.
With 19 state titles, more than twice as many as any other program, Gloucester Catholic has made a habit of playing its best baseball in the biggest games.
That wasn’t the case on Thursday night.
“For whatever reason, we weren’t as clean as we normally are,” Gloucester Catholic coach Adam Tussey said after his team’s 4-3 loss to St. Mary’s of Rutherford in the Non-Public B state championship game.
St. Mary’s senior right-hander Kenny Quijano, a Rider recruit, pitched a complete game with 12 strikeouts. He struck out the side in 1-2-3 seventh inning, popping the cork on a wild celebration for the Gaels and their fans.
“They played a good game,” Gloucester Catholic senior designated hitter Lillo Paxia said. “This game is hard. It’s a grind. Things don’t always work out the way you want them to work out.
“We played hard. I don’t regret anything we’re done.”
St. Mary’s (21-9), which won its fourth state title, scored all four of its runs in the second inning. One scored on a passed ball. Two more scored on an infield error.
Gloucester Catholic also ended two innings with runners picked off base. And nine of the Rams’ strikeouts – including the first and last of the game – were looking.
“Too many strikeouts,” Tussey said. “We just didn’t make good enough adjustments. Our guys usually do a good job of communicating with each other and that’s one of the reasons we seem to score more late in games.
“But tonight we didn’t do that. We didn’t adjust to outside pitches, start taking things the other way.”
Paxia doubled and scored in the second and Luke Lesch, also a Rider recruit, hit a solo home run in the fourth off his future college teammate for Gloucester Catholic (20-6), which had won the previously two Non-Public B state titles.
“It was all written up for us,” Paxia said. “But we were fortunate to win two of these the last four years. It isn’t always going to go your way.”
Junior Tyler Parks pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to keep the Rams within striking distance. And senior Tyler Cannon singled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, cutting the deficit to 4-3 and sparking hope among the enthusiastic Gloucester Catholic crowd.
But the Rams ran out of that sixth-inning rally when an attempted delayed steal ended with a runner picked off third for the final out.
And Quijano slammed the door in the seventh.
“Kenny pitched great," Tussey said. "We knew what we were getting with him. Give him credit. He was a bulldog out there.”
Quijano mixed a fastball that sat around 85 mph with a sharp curve. He allowed six hits with two walks and a hit batter.
“He was on his game,” Paxia said. “He’s legit. I still think nine times out of 10 we beat him but tonight was his night.”
Gloucester Catholic 010 101 0 – 3 6 2
St. Mary’s 040 000 x – 4 3 0
WP: Kenny Quijano. LP: Anthony Solometo.
2B: GC-Lillo Paxia.
HR: GC-Luke Lesch.