By Ross Vocaturo ‘25
RAMSEY, NJ – The 2023 Don Bosco Ironman Varsity Baseball season has come to a close. And while in many cases this season was unlike any other, the trophy case welcomed hardware that the Ironman are no stranger to. Seeing longtime Varsity Coach Mike Rooney return for his 11th season, Bosco was able to keep the majority of its club intact from the prior season. However, a select number of key players would not return, some notable ones being: pitcher Caden Dana (currently a prospect in the Los Angeles Angels system), pitcher Clayton Poliey, and position players Jack Cannizzaro, Pablo Santos, and AJ Zollo. While these vacancies were initially a tough pill to swallow, a number of players stepped up and saw an increase of innings on the field throughout the course of the season.
The Ironman kicked off their campaign with a 10-3 win in Tenafly. A week later, they’d drop their home opener to nearby rival, St Joseph’s Regional Green Knights, 6-3, before flying down to Florida for a pair of games. Despite losing their first game out of state, a 7-3 defeat to Bishop Moore Catholic in Orlando, the Ironman bounced back the next day in dominant fashion, cruising past John Carroll Catholic by a final score of 10-0 to cap off their trip to the Sunshine State with a split.

Bosco’s return to Jersey saw an 8-1 defeat of Dwight Englewood High School, the second of an eventual five-game winning streak. Following Bosco’s first hiccup in almost two weeks, an 11-1 blowout loss against Poly Prep, the Ironmen responded with a nine-game winning streak, which included victories against nearby rivals DePaul (twice), Paramus Catholic (twice), and Bergen Catholic. Bosco’s 14-1 run put the Ironmen back on track despite a rocky 2-2 start.

Similar to the start of their most recent win streak, the Ironmen suffered back-to-back losses, a 4-2 final and a 4-3 final to Clifton High School and Bergen Catholic, respectively. As they had done all year, however, Bosco bounced back with six lopsided wins to end their season, which included a net positive of 74 runs during that span. The Ironmen ended their regular season with a 27-5 record, good for first in the United Division of the Big North Conference.

Despite having a better winning percentage than Bergen Catholic (Don Bosco .844; Bergen Catholic .806), the latter received the #1 seed in the 2022-23 Bergen County Baseball Tournament. Nonetheless, Bosco was still awarded a first round bye, and Bosco’s path to the Championship game began with a 20-2 trouncing of Pascack Hills High School, highlighted by Senior Allen Hernadez’s 5 runs batted in and Senior Eric Becker’s three extra base-hits (two triples, one double). The following week, Bosco once again made light work of an opponent from Pascack Valley, knocking off Pascack Valley High School, 13-3, en route to the Semifinals, where the Ironmen matched up with their 21-9 rivals east of the Parkway, the Green Knights of Saint Joseph Regional. Senior left handed pitcher Mike Staiano’s dominant ten strikeouts across 6.2 innings set up sophomore Dylan Henshaw for the save, sending Don Bosco to the Bergen County Championship, where they faced none other than the Bergen Catholic Crusaders. Highlighted by Senior Nick Locurto’s grand slam, Bosco went on to win, 9-3, to crown the Ironmen Champions of Bergen County.

But, the Ironmen weren’t done there. With the 2023 NJSIAA North Jersey Non-Public A Tournament right around the corner, Bosco found itself in familiar territory: ranked 2nd only to a team they were better than. And yet, this tournament had started off no different than the first, with an 11-2 cruise past the Pirates of Seton Hall Prep. With another Semifinal appearance came another encounter with even competition, as Bosco and Delbarton took a tied game to the bottom of the fifth inning, before Bosco put two runs on the board. While Delbarton answered with a run of its own in the top half of the sixth, it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback, and the Ironmen found themselves in a similar spot from six days prior: face-to-face with the Crusaders from Oradell for all the marbles. After a six-inning “pitchers duel”, Bosco finally got on the board in the top of the seventh on a wild pitch. The Crusaders would get the equalizer in the bottom half of the inning on a fielder’s choice, meaning the game was heading to extra innings. And after an RBI grounder off the bat of Senior Andy Granatell put Bosco back in the lead, senior Jonathan Rodriguez entered the save situation with a man on first and one out looking for the save. Rodriguez found himself in trouble, loading the bases with two outs before striking out the final batter, clinching North Jersey gold and crowning Bosco “King of the North”.
Not surprisingly, Bosco didn’t want just Northern Jersey; the Ironmen wanted the entire state. And a matchup between them and Red Bank Catholic was the only thing in their way to the State Championship. After the Caseys went up 1-0 in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly, Senior Allen Hernandez tied the game on a double to right-center, bringing Eric Becker home for the equalizer. The game didn’t see any more offense for two-and-a-half innings, before Bosco exploded for three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead. And after three scoreless pitched innings by Mike Staiano and Dylan Henshaw, Bosco won the game and the State Championship, meaning the Ironmen would reign supreme in New Jersey high school baseball for back-to-back years.

A number of players also had career years amidst the dominant season. Senior Eric Becker capped off his Bosco tenure with a statement, leading the team in hits (40), extra-base hits (17), home runs (4), runs scored (36), batting average (.435), and slugging percentage (.750). Brother Nick Becker had a great season of his own, tallying ten stolen bases on the year to lead the team. Senior Nick Locurto led the team in runs batted in with 33, and had multiple big hits throughout the season. Freshman Michael Hanna made a name for himself in his rookie season, putting up a .379 average with 22 RBI and 9 doubles on the year. Other key contributors throughout the season included Senior Andy Granatell, Senior Allen Hernandez, Junior Gabe Cushner, and Senior James Hinspeter. On the pitching side of things, Senior Mike Staiano got the majority of starts, leading the team in innings pitched (52.1) and strikeouts (58) while also having the team’s third-lowest ERA (1.74). Sophomore Dylan Henshaw was the team’s unofficial closer, putting up a 1.58 ERA along with 32 strikeouts across 26.2 innings pitched. Other notable pitchers include Senior Jonathan Rodriguez, Sophomore Anthony Costello, and Junior Ryan Calvario,

All in all, the Don Bosco Prep Varsity Ironmen had a season for the ages. While Bosco is no stranger to bringing home hardware on the diamond, every championship run is more special than the next. Whether it be at home on the Don Bosco campus, or down in Florida, or even in the newly-renovated and reopened Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson (one of the few remaining Negro league stadiums standing – Bosco’s 14-2 win over Eastside High School being the first game played on its field in almost 30 years), the Ironmen had a will to win no matter what. And while Bosco has many key players returning for next season, this season held even more significance for the number of graduating Seniors, who will look back at this season as one of the most memorable in Don Bosco Prep Baseball history.