Schorr pitches Audubon to a state crown

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - Thirty minutes after Andrew Schorr threw his glove high into the air in celebration of the state championship he had just won, the Audubon lefthander stood in the only shaded area of what was suddenly a vacant diamond with an old flip phone pressed to his ear.

The only other person on the field was his grandmother, Barbara. She smiled as she listened to the phone conversation.

"We won the state championship," he said as casually as he had said hello. "I threw a one-hitter and had three hits."

Schorr was talking to his mother, who couldn't watch the casual masterpiece he put on display only minutes before at Toms River South because she was in Paris.

The East Carolina-bound senior threw seven innings of one-hit baseball to go along with eight strikeouts, five walks, and a 3-for-4 day at the plate as he led the Green Wave to their second NJSIAA Group 1 championship in as many years with a dominating 6-1 win Saturday over Pompton Lakes.

Such has become expected of Schorr after a 10-1 season with an ERA of less than 1.00 and 121 strikeouts.

"That's Andrew being Andrew," 21-year head coach Rich Horan said. "We knew with him on the mound we had a really good chance."

Schorr carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but allowed an infield hit to leadoff batter Jon Steele. Schorr permitted only four runners to reach scoring position and only one to get to third base.

Nine of the 10 Green Wave batters reached base, and two sent monster shots out of Ken Frank Stadium.

The first came off the bat of Keith Michalski and ignited a three-run fifth inning that gave Audubon a comfortable lead. The third baseman's blast, his sixth of the season, soared into the trees well above the 379-foot fence in left-center.

After his team took a one-run lead in the second, Justin Jannetti pulled an inside fastball over the left-field fence that got the Green Wave bats rolling. Audubon then loaded the bases with no outs. But Pompton Lakes starter Mike Coss struck out the next three batters to keep his squad within reach.

"We certainly didn't capitalize on all of our chances," Horan said. "Andrew bailed us out of a few miscues."

Audubon (24-6) stranded 12 runners in the game.

Schorr, who missed all of his sophomore season with a broken leg and all but two starts in his junior year with another broken leg, responded better than Horan could have asked. Schorr stuck with his fastball and curveball for most of the game, but mixed in a sinking change-up a few times.

"Our caps off to Andrew," said Paul Tonis, coach of Pompton Lakes (22-4). "He put a buzz saw in our offense. He's the best pitcher we've seen all season and one of the best I've seen in my 26 years."

Schorr blew a fastball by Kevin Magee for the third and final out, threw his glove in the air, and tackled catcher Boomer Wickersham to start a celebratory dog pile.

After he posed for pictures with the trophy and his teammates, the field cleared out and left Schorr where he had been all afternoon - alone on the mound.

Then his grandmother handed him the phone. And the same way he casually dominated in the last game of his high school career, he quietly said to his mother, "We did it."

Pompton Lakes 000 001 0 - 1 1 3

Audubon 011 130 x - 6 11 1

WP: Andrew Schorr. LP: Mike Coss. 2B: A–Zach Welsher. 3B: A–Schorr. HR: A–Justin Jannetti, Keith Michalski.