Mustaro's spectacular senior season

by Marc Narducci | Jul 10, 2023
Mustaro's spectacular senior season
RJ Mustaro’s recently completed high school career ended with an outstanding senior season in three sports.

Mustaro will continue his education and athletic career playing baseball at Rowan College of South Jersey of Gloucester County, which just won the Junior College Division III national championship.

He can look back at a senior year that was a testament to his athletic ability.

During the football season, the 6-foot-1 Mustaro was a 1,000-yard receiver. In basketball, he scored 1,109 career points, accortding to NJ.com. Mustaro also set the single-game Gloucester Catholic record of 45 points in a 108-65 win over Clayton Jan. 31.

He averaged 16.1 points in 22 games as a senior. Mustaro missed three games due to injury and said it was the first time in any sport during high school that he missed a game. And of course, he didn’t miss any games afterwards, showing his tremendous durability.

He saved his best for the baseball season, where he played center field and had a major role in helping Gloucester Catholic end as the consensus No. 1 team in South Jersey.

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The Rams won four different titles, beginning with beating Delsea 11-2 in the 49th annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic's championship, which consists of South Jersey’s top teams.

Gloucester Catholic then beat Kingsway 3-2 to clinch the Tri-County Royal championship. The Rams went on to win the South Jersey and state Non-Public B championships.

“This senior year, I got 1,000 yards in football, got my 1,000th point in basketball and we won the state championship (in baseball), so it was a pretty good year,” Mustaro says.

As a senior, he batted .405 and led the Rams in runs (35) and home runs (4). He also drove in 31 runs and stole 17 bases.

He’s now looking forward to joining the RCSJ-Gloucester baseball program, coming off its national championship.

“I am excited to go there and develop,” he says. “I will finally have an offseason of only playing baseball for a whole year. It is a chance to see how good I will get and see where it takes me.”

To prepare for his future, Mustaro is playing American Legion baseball for Brooklawn, one of the top programs in not only in the state, but also the country. Brooklawn has won 30 New Jersey state championships and four American Legion World Series titles.

This year’s team is expected to be a contender for a state title. Allentown is the two-time defending New Jersey state champion, having beaten Brooklawn 2-0 in last year’s title game.

This is Mustaro’s second year playing for Brooklawn.

Even though Mustaro only pitched one inning all high school season, he recently threw two shutout innings in a start for Brooklawn against Washington Township.

He threw the ball well, a notable accomplishment since teams that compete for a state championship and beyond can never have enough pitching.

“I’m excited to go out there on there (on the mound) again,” he says “I just want to do anything to help the team.”

That has been his approach in three different sports, and it has suited Mustaro well as he looks to continue his senior year success this summer before beginning his college career.

Photo by Marc Narducci


Author: Marc Narducci

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