Gloucester Catholic To Play In National Baseball Tournament

by Marc Narducci | Jan 28, 2026

Gloucester Catholic’s baseball team, long one of the best in the state, will be facing some of the country’s top teams in the 2026 National High School Baseball Invitational. The 16-team tournament will be held from March 25-28 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.

Gloucester Catholic is the three-time defending NJSIAA Non-Public B state champion and the Rams should have another quality team under veteran coach Dennis Barth.

“It took us a while to get in this tournament,” Barth said. “You have to get on a list and have to show how many players you have coming back and recent championships you have won.”

Gloucester Catholic should have plenty of pop in the lineup. The Rams’ offense has four Division I commits.

The four commits are catcher Braeden Lipoff, who is headed to East Carolina, shortstop Noah Danza (Mississippi State), third baseman Guy Lynam (Auburn) and outfielder Henry Pancoast (Seton Hall).

In addition, Barth feels that senior righthander Jude Morgan, who had a 0.32 ERA last season, is a Division I prospect.

Here are the schools competing.

Aquinas High School (San Bernardino, Calif.); Baylor School (Chattanooga, Tenn.); Casteel High School (Queen Creek, Ariz.); Delbarton High School (Morristown, N.J.); Edmond Memorial High School (Edmond, Okla.); Gloucester Catholic High School (Gloucester City, N.J.); Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles, Calif.); Nolensville High School (Nolensville, Tenn.); Orange Lutheran High School (Orange, Calif.); Regis Jesuit High School (Aurora, Colo.); St. John Bosco High School (Bellflower, Calif.); Tampa Jesuit High School (Tampa, Fla.); Trinity High School (Louisville, Ky.); Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.); Venice High School (Venice, Fla.); Wakefield High School (Raleigh, N.C.)

At press time, the matchups weren’t announced, but each team is guaranteed to play four games.

The other New Jersey team in the tournament is Delbarton.

Both Gloucester Catholic and Delbarton will be at a disadvantage against many opponents simply because New Jersey opens its high school baseball season later.

NJSIAA team can begin practice on March 9 and are allowed to start playing regular season games as early as March 16, although one week isn’t really long enough to prepare for a baseball season.

States such as California begin their seasons much earlier. For instance, perennial national power Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, one of the fourth California teams in the tournament, begins its regular season this year on Feb. 17. There will be 11 games scheduled before Harvard-Westlake appears in this national tournament.

“We will be behind some of the schools from Florida and California and possibly others,” Barth said.

Still, he relishes the challenge.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “We went 0-4 in a tournament in Las Vegas a few years ago, but this kind of competition will help us get better and you always want to compete against the best.”

Gloucester Catholic’s baseball team / Marc Narducci

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Author: Marc Narducci

Gloucester Catholic To Play In National Baseball Tournament

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