Friday, April 3, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

RJ Voorman went the distance on a six-hitter in his first varsity start as Ramapo improved to 2-0 on the season with a 4-2 win at Lyndhurst.

LYNDHURST -- After four batters had come to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, the first varsity start in the high school career of Ramapo junior RJ Voorman was not going quite as well as he had planned. Voorman had just given up three hits, a walk and two runs against the first four hitters that he faced and he was working with little wiggle room as he was matched against Glenn Flora, Lyndhurst's ace and one of Bergen County's best pitchers.

Maybe it was nerves that got the best of him early, but it was guts the rest of the way as Voorman settled in and went the distance, allowing just three hits over the final six innings. He won the pitcher’s duel and Ramapo won its second game in as many days, 4-2, at Lyndhurst’s spanking new all-turf sports complex complete with a view of the New York City skyline.

“This was my first varsity start so I was a little nervous, but once I got out of the first inning I kind of found my groove,” said Voorman, the increasingly rare three-sport athlete who played defense on Ramapo’s county championship soccer team and guard on its hoops team that reached the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament. “My curveball was working for me and my coach [Mickey Hunt] always says ‘First strike, strike first’ so getting ahead in the count definitely played on my mind throughout the game.”

Mark Noseer led off the bottom of the first inning with a double and scored the Lyndhurst's first run.

Ramapo won its season opener against Northern Highlands on Wednesday and didn’t give Lyndhurst a chance to get accustomed to the regular season. Rob Santaniello led off the game with a shot into the left centerfield gap and then flew around the bases for a home run that had the Bears, the defending Group 1 state champions, facing a deficit before recording their first out of the year. Bob Graber and Sean Munier each added first inning singles before Flora got a strike out with both runners in scoring position to get out of the first inning without further damage.

Voorman then took the mound and Lyndhurst’s first batter of the season, Mark Noseer, greeted him with a ground-rule double into the left-centerfield gap. Justin Capp then drew a walk and Flora singled to score Noseer and tie the game. Miguel Molina’s single knocked in Capp to give the Bears a 2-1 lead, but when the ball skipped passed third base on its way back into the infield, Luis Tejada, the courtesy runner for Flora, tried to score.

Ramapo catcher Kevin Barry ran the ball down near the backstop and threw to Voorman covering the plate in time to nab the sliding Tejada. As it turned out, that was the last time the Bears would threaten the dish as Voorman allowed just three singles and three walks the rest of the way in recording the win.

Ramapo took a lead right out of the box when Rob Santaniello homered leading off the game.

“He is a throwback kid. A three-sport athlete and a competitor,” said Hunt, speaking of Voorman. “He did a great job. He gets out on the mound for the first time in a varsity game and did gutted out seven innings matched up against one of the best pitchers in the county. I don’t know if there is anything else you could have asked for from him and a start like this is only going to boost his confidence.”

Ramapo got even at 2 in the top of the third when Santaniello led off with a single and stole second. He moved to third on Kevin O’Connor’s single off an infielder’s glove and Santaniello (2-for-2, HR, 2 R, RBI, SB, BB), who now has five hits in his first two games, scored on Tommy Breault’s sacrifice fly to center field.

The Green Raider’s went ahead for good in the top of the fifth, Flora’s last inning of work, when Greg Madormo led off with a single out of the No. 9 hole in the order. He moved to second on Santaniello’s sacrifice bunt and scored when O’Connor snuck a groundball under the glove of Vivek Jani, Lyndhurst’s diving second baseman. O’Connor (3-for-4, 2 RBI, SB) also tacked on an insurance run with a single in the top of the seventh.

Lyndhurst's Glenn Flora struck out seven and walked just one in his first start of the season.

“I have seen him [Flora] twice before in the last two years, so I knew what to expect. He throws hard and he has good control. When you get a pitch to hit you have to take advantage,” said O’Connor, who is one of four left-handed hitters in the Raiders’ first six spots in the battling order. “We lost a lot of good hitters from last year’s team but we have guys stepping in and our lineup is strong all the way through.”

The 2-0 start to the season is the direct opposite of last year when the Green Raiders started 0-2 and were no hit in both losses, first by Wayne Hills’ Travis Della Volpe and then by Old Tappan’s Alex Caravella. Ramapo is scheduled to play Wayne Hills on Friday, although the weather may have different ideas. But either way, it sure beats the way last year started.

“It’s a big win because we have Wayne Hills tomorrow and Old Tappan next week. We lost to both of them last year so getting two wins in two days gives us a lot of spark,” said Santaniello. “It all starts on the mound. Bob Graber and Andrew Weiss did it for us yesterday [against Northern Highlands] and RJ was great today. He’s great all-around athlete with soccer, basketball and now baseball and that was a great performance.”

Kevin O'Connor had three hits and 2 RBI for Ramapo.

Voorman finished with four strikeouts against four walks and allowed six hits, with only three of them coming after the first inning. Flora went the first five innings for Lyndhurst (0-1) and allowed seven hits while striking out seven and walking just one. Tommy Carroll pitched the final two innings for the Bears. Molina and Kevin Smolensky each had two hits for Lyndhurst.

Two wins does not a season make for Ramapo, but the signs are pointing in the right direction, which wasn’t always the case during the preseason.

“We had 11 scrimmages in the preseason and after some of them I would go home thinking we were going to be pretty good and after others I would go home thinking we could be in trouble,” said Hunt, whose team reached the semifinals in both the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament and the Bergen County Tournament. “You never know what you are going to get. We’ve played two ball games and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. You never want to look too far ahead.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.