RJ Mustaro simply loves to win at sports — all of them.
In fact, the Gloucester Catholic High School senior had a tough time narrowing down his field in becoming one of the best three-sport athletes to ever play at the school.
“I can play them all,” Mustaro said with a smile. “Every sport I ever played, I always just seemed to be good at – Little League all-star and things like that.”
Mustaro said it goes back to being an athletically well-rounded kid.
“I grew up playing street hockey, and I played soccer sometimes when I was younger,” he said. “My parents encouraged me to play every sport growing up.”
Once he entered Gloucester Catholic, it became football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. Not only did he participate in all three, he became a star in each arena.
In football, Mustaro received Tri-County Conference First Team honors on both sides of the ball as a wide receiver and defensive back. In basketball, he became just the 16th player in school history to score 1,000 career points and set a school record for most points in a game with 45. And in baseball, Mustaro is a center fielder and a key cog in the lineup on one of the best teams in the state. Through May 3, he was batting .400 with 15 RBIs and three home runs in 40 at-bats.
“He’s probably one of the best athletes to come out of Gloucester Catholic, and I’ve been around a long time,” said Rams baseball coach Dennis Barth, who has more than 500 wins at Gloucester Catholic and nine state titles under his belt. “RJ is really coming around in the baseball part of it, and we’re hoping he gets picked up by some Division 1 college in the next few weeks. He’s gotten better every year, and he’s really starting to put it all together. He has pro tools, so hopefully he gets a shot somewhere down the line.”
The choice has been made. It’s baseball from here for Mustaro, although he’s uncertain where he will play next.
Although baseball is his favorite, the other two sports had their shining moments this year, especially because his sophomore brother Jack played a key role. Jack was the quarterback on the football field and was the Rams’ shooting guard in basketball.
“It was the best,” Mustaro said. “Having him [Jack] throw me touchdowns and having him throw me assists this year [in basketball] was a lot of fun. It’s something I’m always going to remember.”
When it comes to his favorite memories, it always seems to be the team-oriented ones that surface first.
“We got our football team to our first conference championship, we won our conference tournament in basketball,” Mustaro said. “All the playoff games, all the fans coming out, it’s all so much fun.”
Mustaro’s final high school sports season has arrived, and he’s hoping it continues well into June. The Rams were 9-4 through their first 13 games and have played some incredibly tough competition including victories over Saint Augustine, Egg Harbor Township and Kingsway. Gloucester Catholic has won a state-best 19 Non-Public state championships with the last one coming in 2018.
“We have the target on our backs every year,” Mustaro said. “The last two years we came up short in the South Jersey final, but this year, we are making a difference.”
Graduation is around the corner. It’s going to be a bittersweet moment for Mustaro. “It feels like just yesterday I was the freshman playing with all the varsity guys. But it feels good. I’m excited to go to college and just play one sport and focus on that, and become the best I can at it.”
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