Schorr is S.J. baseball player of year

When Andrew Schorr was a freshman, he knew where he would be as a senior: on the mound, getting ready to throw the last pitch of the state championship game.

He was right, too. But the Audubon High School athlete never could have imagined the rocky road he would have to take to that memorable moment on June 9 at Toms River South High.

Maybe that's why Schorr took a step back and a deep breath as Audubon fans stood and cheered and his teammates and coaches got set to pop the cork on the celebration of the Green Wave's 6-1 victory over Pompton Lakes in the Group 1 state final.

"Right before that last pitch, it hit me," said Schorr, who is The Inquirer's South Jersey Player of the Year for baseball. "I realized we were going to win a state championship and I was going to be a huge part of it."

State championships are nothing new for Audubon, and success on the baseball field is nothing new for Schorr.

But it was only this season that the Green Wave's drive to another championship and Schorr's sensational play were in lockstep as his pitching and hitting propelled the program to its eighth state crown.

Audubon coach Rich Horan said Schorr was "on a mission" to make the most of his senior season after missing nearly all of his sophomore and junior years because of two knee injuries.

"He had that look in his eyes," Horan said of Schorr, who sat in the dugout while Audubon won the Group 1 state title in 2011 and lost the Group 2 state championship game in 2010. "He had something to prove to people."

Schorr was something of a freshman phenom in 2009, and he has been a key player for Brooklawn's national-caliber American Legion team in each of the past two summers. He has signed to attend East Carolina on a baseball scholarship.

So it wasn't as if he was unknown. But Schorr thought his absence from the Audubon team in 2010 and 2011 had lowered his stature in South Jersey baseball circles.

"I definitely felt like I was under the radar a little bit," Schorr said. "I remember before the season, people were saying, 'Yeah, Audubon has that good lefthander [fellow senior Kevin Kraemer].' And it would be like, 'You forgot about Andrew.'

"I felt like I had to get my name back out there."

The most impressive thing about Schorr's senior season was his double-barreled impact. He led his team on the mound and at the plate.

A lefthander with a live fastball, Schorr was 10-1 with a 0.82 ERA. He led South Jersey in strikeouts with 122 in 681/3 innings and allowed just 25 hits - 20 singles and five doubles.

Schorr was 10-0 against New Jersey opponents, as his only loss was to a team from North Carolina in a tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He pitched two no-hitters. He was 3-0 in the state tournament, striking out 16 against Pitman and firing a one-hitter with eight strikeouts against Pompton Lakes in the state final.

"He put a buzz saw in our offense," Pompton Lakes coach Paul Tonis said that day. "He's the best pitcher we've seen all season and one of the best I've seen in my 26 years."

Schorr had three hits, including an RBI triple, in the state final. He led Audubon in hitting with a .404 average. He had 18 extra-base hits (four homers, five triples, nine doubles) with 37 runs and 26 RBIs.

"That made it so much more fun," Schorr said of his hitting.

After that deep breath and moment of reflection, Schorr threw the final pitch of his high school career. It was strike three. He threw his glove in the air, tackled catcher Boomer Wickersham, and ended up at the bottom of the celebratory dog pile.

"I don't even remember what I was thinking," Schorr said. "I just know I had the greatest feeling in the world."