Gloucester Catholic baseball makes history with Diamond Classic win

PITMAN – The setup for the Diamond Classic tests the true depth of a high school baseball team’s pitching staff.

And Gloucester Catholic High School showed why it has one of the deepest and most talented staffs in South Jersey.

After the squad’s top two pitchers helped the Rams advance to Tuesday’s championship game, sophomore Eddie Pinero finished off the tournament run with another gem.

Pinero scattered two runs over five innings and the Rams helped their hurler with a 12-run explosion in the fourth inning that carried Gloucester Catholic to a 13-2 win over Clearview in the 52^nd annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic championship at Pitman’s Alcyon Park.

“Give (Pinero) a ball on the bump and he just shoves,” senior shortstop and Mississippi State commit Noah Danza said. “That’s what he does. That’s what GC breeds, great competitors and guys that want to win.”

Gloucester Catholic has had plenty of those types of players over its storied history, which now includes the most Diamond Classic titles ever (eight), breaking a tie with Non-Public B foe Bishop Eustace, which the Rams eliminated in Saturday’s semifinal round.  

Gloucester Catholic head coach Dennis Barth accomplished what he wanted from this team at the Diamond Classic. The championship trophy was just an extra bonus.

“I just like to play good teams,” Barth said. “We want to play the best schedule there is. The Diamond gives you a chance to play five games against good competition and get better. That’s the goal, get better.”

Danza added, “It’s an amazing feeling right now. We had some really tough losses the last two years in the Diamond. I’m really proud of these guys.”

With the 1-2 punch of senior Jude Morgan and sophomore Bobby Kleinow both throwing complete games on Saturday, the Rams turned to Pinero in the title game.

He worked five innings for just the second time this season, working into and out of jams throughout the game. Armed with a good fastball, he struck out two, picked up his first win and lowered his season ERA to 1.78.

“Wherever they need me, I just try my best,” said Pinero. “I just don’t try to let anything get into my head out there, just pitch my game."

“He did a great job,” Barth said. “He kept his cool, kept us in the game until we starting hitting.”

The inning

Gloucester Catholic started hitting in the fourth inning when it put together an epic rally that included 16 batters coming to a plate and 12 crossing it, turning a 1-1 tie into a 13-1 lead.

And it was Pinero who got the rally started with a perfect drag bunt to the first-base side.

Gloucester Catholic showed patience and grinded out some long at-bats, including Brayden Moughan, who fought off about a half dozen foul balls to draw a walk. Pioneers' pitchers got plenty of two-strike counts in the fourth inning, but couldn't get the put-away pitch.

After Danza’s bunt single loaded the bases, Braeden Lipoff delivered a go-ahead, two-run single. Mikey Angelo and Moughan each had two-run knocks before Danza and Morgan added RBI singles of their own. Some misplays by the Clearview defense kept the inning going.

“A lot of good at-bats, lots of tough outs,” Danza said. “The whole entire lineup just worked through that whole inning.”

Lipoff finished the game with three hits and two RBIs while Moughan had two hits, a walk and three RBIs.

Gloucester Catholic (21-4) has two regular-season games this week against Williamstown and Kingsway as it attempts to win the Tri-County Conference Royal Division title outright. Then, the Rams will set their sights on defending their state Non-Public B title. The squad is the top seed in the South Jersey Non-Public B section.

What a run

Clearview rallied from the sixth seed to earn the program’s first-ever appearance in the Diamond Classic final.

The Pioneers, who split the regular-season series with Gloucester Catholic, made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the field and failed to produce some clutch hits in big spots of the championship game.

While the final score wasn’t the way Clearview wanted it to end, Pioneers head coach Nick Core said there was plenty to learn for his players.

“It was an awesome run,” Core said. “We were playing really good baseball up until tonight. The support from our whole community, it’s been great.

“I’m not surprised that we went on this run. We’ve been gearing up for this. I think it’s a great learning experience for us to be in a championship atmosphere heading into the playoffs. I just think we played like the lights were a little too bright and that’s something we can learn from.”

Clearview (20-5) is the top-seed in South Jersey Group 3 and will open the tournament against Timber Creek next week. The team is seeking its first sectional title since 2021.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 35 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email at tmcgurk@usatodayco.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Gloucester Catholic wins Diamond Classic baseball title