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MARGATE - On an evening that threw Gloucester Catholic and St. Augustine more curveballs than they saw in their actual game, very little went according to script, except Braeden Lipoff continuing to crush baseballs.
The Gloucester Catholic junior catcher and East Carolina commit entered Saturday’s late-night game against St. Augustine batting .542. He proceeded to raise his average by 79 points.
Lipoff went 5-for-5 with two home runs, including a grand slam that broke a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning, four runs scored and seven RBIs as Gloucester Catholic beat St. Augustine, 14-5 in a game between defending state champions.
It was part of the Downbeach Coaches vs. Cancer event at Margate’s Jerome Avenue Park.
In one of the easiest decisions in the history of decisions, Lipoff was named the Game Changer Player of the Game.
Gloucester Catholic, No. 1 in the Courier-Post’s Mean 15 rankings, improved to 9-0. No. 3 St. Augustine fell to 10-2.
This was the final game of the day for the event, but one that was delayed nearly two hours due to a rain delay in the previous game, Bishop Eustace’s 6-3 victory over Mainland.
The Gloucester Catholic-St. Augustine matchup was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. First pitch was 8:51 p.m. and the game ended at 11:46.
The weather by game’s end dropped to the mid 50’s and certainly had an early-March feel. The game itself resembled baseball played in June, when the state finals take place.
An overflowing crowd attended the game with fans lined up from the first and third base line, into the outfield.
“This seemed bigger than the state finals,” said Lipoff, who helped Gloucester Catholic win the Non-Public B state crown last season. “There were more people here than the state finals.”
Still, the weather caused a lot of waiting around,
“It was brutal,” Lipoff said. "We hit at 2:30 and I couldn’t wait to get on the field.”
It showed in his work.
Comeback Rams
While the score suggests a blowout, the game was tied at 5-5 before Gloucester Catholic put together a little nine-run explosion in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The ending for the Rams was in stark contrast to the beginning.
Before the Gloucester Catholic fans could take off their rain gear, they saw their team down 4-0 in the top of the first. Only one of the runs was earned.
The Hermits got a two-run home run from starting pitcher Alex Weingartner and a two-run single by catcher DJ Lloyd.
Gloucester Catholic got one back in the bottom of the first on Jack Mustaro’s RBI single.
St. Augustine made it 5-1 on Marco Christopher’s RBI single in the third inning, but Lipoff hit a solo home run and Henry Pancoast drilled an RBI double to cut the lead to 5-3 through three innings. The Rams tied it with two runs in the fifth inning on Jason Bogart’s RBI double for the fourth run, with the fifth run coming on an error.
Then came the next inning when Lipoff solidified his hero’s role by breaking the tie with a grand slam to right field.
While the field was a virtual bandbox, that shot by Lipoff was still mighty impressive.
“Center field is the shortest part of the part, so I was trying to stay up the middle,” Lipoff said. “That is what I did all night, so it worked out good for me.”
After his grand slam, Gloucester Catholic would score five more runs to seal the deal.
Unsung performance
When St. Augustine was scoring at will early in the game against Gloucester Catholic righthander Jackson Smallets, few felt the Coastal Carolina commit would pitch a complete game.
Yet he did only allow one earned run, and Smallets got stronger as the game went on.
“I knew once we came to hit, my team was going to score runs for me,” Smallets said. “One through nine everyone’s going to hit.”
Even Smallets admitted that the beginning of the game was less than ideal.
“It was kind of a rough first inning, but I told myself that I had to give my team another six innings,” Smallets said.
That is exactly what he did in pitching a complete game, while striking out 11.
Smallets benefits from pitching to his hard-hitting teammates in practice. He did admit that facing Lipoff, even in practice, isn’t a very fun endeavor.
“When I pitch to him in practice, it’s pretty scary,” Smallets said. “Braeden is one of the best hitters I have faced.”
Smallets will likely be the best pitchers that many teams will face this year.
“We started off great and their guy settled in,” St. Augustine head coach Mike Ney said. “We had a lot of swings and misses, and the bats went a little bit quiet.”
The rivalry continues
This was a chance for two of the premier programs in South Jersey to renew acquaintances. Last year these were the two NJSIAA state champions from South Jersey, with Gloucester Catholic winning Non-Public B and St. Augustine Non-Public A.
Gloucester Catholic finished No. 1 in last year’s final Mean 15 South Jersey rankings, while St. Augustine was No. 2.
Last year Gloucester Catholic went 2-0 against St. Augustine, beating the Hermits, 1-0 in a Coaches vs Cancer game and then 6-1 in a non-league game just prior to the state tournament.
Two years ago in 2023, Gloucester Catholic beat St. Augustine, 2-0 in a Coaches vs. Cancer game.
These two always like playing each other, not only to receive great competition, but also as a measuring stick.
“It’s a huge rivalry,” Ney said. “You see the energy, see the crowd, see everything going, but how we respond to it, how we bounce back it’s one game right.”
This year’s rivalry may not be over. The two could meet in a few weeks in the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.
Nobody would complain about a rematch.
Marc Narducci is a freelance reporter for the Courier-Post. He can be reached by email at [email protected]
Marc Narducci is a freelance reporter for the Courier-Post. He can be reached by email at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Top-ranked Gloucester Catholic knocks off No. 3 St. Augustine in thrilling fashion
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