Gorman sharp at N-G tops Wood, 5-2

ONE COMMENT people will never make about Joey Gorman is that he's a one-trick pony.

Out and about, he's known mostly for the skills that last year enabled him to earn Pitcher of the Year honors for the Daily News All-City Baseball Team. But inside the walls at Ss. Neumann-Goretti, he also receives respect for his academic prowess (top 25 among seniors), standing as the student council vice president, and wildly impressive singing talents.

Oh, wait. The jury is out on that last one.

Tuesday, the 5-10, 180-pound lefthander, who's bound for Saint Joseph's University and was making his first in-game throws of any kind this season, came within three outs of a shutout as the Saints bested visiting Archbishop Wood, 5-2, in a Catholic Blue opener.

Later, aside from baseball, he discussed the talent show the student council will stage April 27.

"Hey, if you want to have a talent show, rather than sit in class, you have to get kids to perform," Gorman said, laughing. "I was in it 2 years ago with [third baseman] Joe Kinee, and we're going to do a dance thing again, which we're calling 'Evolution of Dance II.' "

That's not all, folks.

Gorman said one of N-G's teachers, Leo Cittadini, runs an a capella group. Joey/Joe will take a shot for the talent show. Here's your warning: Ear plugs won't be sold at the door.

"We can't sing at all. No clue," Gorman insisted. "It'll be hard to find practice time because of baseball, but he says he's going to teach us. We're looking to do a mix thing with 'Runaround Sue' and 'For the Longest Time' and 'Stand By Me.' Should be interesting."

On the mound, Gorman allowed four apiece of hits/walks, while striking out eight. Through 5 innings, Wood was able to send only one ball beyond the infield.

A fly to rightfield ended the sixth, then Joe Santospago and Benji Abercrombie milked walks to open the seventh. Tim Greenfield singled hard to right-center to spoil the shutout bid. Sean Sheridan lofted a sacrifice fly to right. Gorman fanned Brendan St. Thomas, but a plunking of Kevin Sullivan brought the tying run to the plate. Gorman humped up again and struck out Rich Rosenbaum.

"I almost had a shutout last year against Wood, too," Gorman said. "They broke it up in the seventh. It's all good as long as we win. I'd even take 100-99. Of course, my ERA wouldn't look too hot."

While pacing N-G to the 2011 Catholic League championship and a 22-1 overall record, Gorman went 9-1 with a 1.00 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 54 innings. He earned all three of the Saints' playoff triumphs, while posting a 1.59 ERA and 21 K's in 15 innings.

Tuesday's game was No. 4 for N-G. Usually an outfielder when not pitching, was the designated hitter in the first three contests. Roughly 2 months ago, he experienced an elbow twinge, and first-year coach Mike Zolk decided to proceed cautiously.

"It was set all along that I'd be making this pitching start," Gorman said. "We just took things slowly. I made throws from the outfield in practice and things, so I did feel ready today. My velocity wasn't quite where I like it, and my curve wasn't the best, but I got ahead of a lot of guys, and that's always good.

"The first inning can be my Achilles', so it was nice getting through that [1-2-3]."

Gorman drove home the game's first run with a third-inning groundout. Nicky Nardini, his battery mate, followed with an RBI single to right-center.

Temple commit Jimmy Kerrigan opened the fourth with a one-hop double off the way-out-there fence in left. Mario DiFebbo laced a two-run single down the rightfield line four batters later, and Anthony Adams collected an RBI with a ground-ball single to center.

Two of the five runs against junior righthander Scott Boches were unearned. He faced only 10 batters in his other three frames. Senior righty Kevin Devine worked a perfect sixth.

Gorman, who lives at 3rd and Ritner, committed to Saint Joseph's last November. Holy Cross, La Salle, Delaware and Rider were among his finalists, though other, more distant schools also were involved. He's guessing he'll choose to major in sports marketing.

"The recruiting process is very interesting," he said. "I don't have an older brother who went through it. No family members to really guide me. You're first thinking about the near/far thing. You look at schools not around here and you think, 'Ah, that's not far.' Then you get there and it hits you. 'This is far.' I'm going to like being able to play in front of my friends and family.

"They always say if you find the right school, you'll just know it. That was me at Saint Joseph's. I had a good feeling about everything and all the people."

Gorman hopes to match those vibrations for the talent show, and not just with dancing and singing.

"One thing that's pretty cool," he said, "is that our student council president, Christian Prusinowski, is one of our managers with the baseball team. We're working on a thing where the kids will be able to wear colored shirts that day to school if they make a donation to cancer. We're deciding right now what hospital will get the money. We're thinking CHOP."