South Philly Review

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With Monday’s 8-4 non-league win over Germantown Academy, Joey Gorman, front, Mike “Zoom” Zolk, middle, and Josh Ockimey, back, the Saints are off to a 7-0 start.

Photo by Greg Bezanis

If the baseball players at Ss. Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., ever grow tired of wearing cleats, their institution’s track and field team would surely offer them a chance to don different footwear. Seeking to win their second Catholic League championship in three years, the East Passyunk athletes have made jaunts to home plate constants this season. The offensive juggernauts showed Wyncote’s Bishop McDevitt no mercy last week, taking two games by identical 12-0 scores.

The second annihilation came April 14 at McNichol Field, 26th and Moore streets, and displayed the prized combination of patient hitting and stellar pitching that could produce another incredible run for coach Lou Spadaccini’s gang. Entering undefeated through five games, including four league triumphs, the Saints determined to couple the day’s fantastic weather with a ruthless performance. They pounded the host Lancers April 11, erupting for 14 hits while yielding only one. The game lasted just five innings as a result of the 10-run mercy rule.

Six different visitors each stroked a double in the win. A new location, however, could not produce a more favorable result for the Montgomery County group, as the Saints proved geography cannot quell their potency.

Despite a pair of two-out errors in the top of the first inning, junior right-handed hurler Joe Jaep escaped trouble. Had any run crossed in the frame, the Saints would have entered unfamiliar territory, as they trailed for only one-and-a-half innings in their first five contests. With 43 runs for versus only 10 against in that quintet, the talented swingers took their first cuts, or at least tried to do so.

Each Saint had a song to greet him upon stepping to the plate. If the team had a collective tune, Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” would be the choice, as Spadaccini’s hitters became walkers, working four free passes in their 10-batter turn.

Senior second baseman Mike “Zoom” Zolk, who the next day signed his National Letter of Intent to play for the University of North Carolina, began by smacking a single. He and his quartet of ambulatory mates, junior Jimmy Kerrigan, junior left fielder Mario DiFebbo, senior designated hitter Dom Riverso and junior catcher Nicky Nardini all scored, with the last two reaching the bench thanks to freshman first baseman Josh Ockimey’s two-run single. Through only two hits, the home team built a 5-0 lead.

The Saints added two runs in the second, as an error, a single by Riverso and three more walks increased McDevitt’s misery. They could have had the guests looking more urgently for their bus, leaving the bases loaded.

Jaep deferred to another Joe, sophomore righty Joe Kinee, to begin the third. A quick four-batter frame gave Kinee’s supporting cast more chances to be inhospitable. Three more runs offered the Saints extra cushioning, with Zolk, Kerrigan and junior shortstop Marty Venafro earning high-fives. Kinee bookended a strikeout with two groundouts in the fourth, sending the Saints to the dish for what would be, for McDevitt’s sake, their last swings. Senior right fielder John Snyder and Zolk singled, scoring on similar knocks from Kerrigan and Venafro.

With thoughts of seizing a chance to end early, Spadaccini sent in left-hander Elijah Resnick to hurl his explosive fastballs. The spectacled addition from the now-closed North Catholic High School permitted two base runners but struck out the side. The mercy rule kept the opposition from having to flail at further offerings, with the triumph leading Spadaccini to give his guys two days off.

“These are your final days off for the rest of the season,” the resident of the 2600 block of South Iseminger Street said. “Enjoy them.”

For most of his tenure, the Saints have relished every day. The 2009 squad captured the school’s first baseball title since 1960 and advanced to the PIAA Class AAA semifinals. Poised to match its Catholic League success and top its state run, last year’s unit started 17-1, proving this year’s hot start is not an anomaly.

Dropping a Catholic League semifinal to Drexel Hill’s Monsignor Bonner prevented an opportunity to defend ’09’s crown and kept the Saints from the state playoffs. It also ended the careers of standouts Al Baur, Mark Donato and Michael Riverso, players Spadaccini coached for nearly a decade.

“I had guys asking us how we would be,” the coach said after the McDevitt massacre. “Hitters like those we lost don’t come around very often, but we’ve been tough outs this year. Their patience at the plate gives me full confidence in the offense.”

Spadaccini has never had to dwell on how at ease he feels with the pitching. The Saints opened March 25 with a 9-6 win over Springfield High. Including last Thursday’s shutout, they yielded only four runs in five games.

“Our pitching has been beyond solid. We have one of the best pitchers in the state in Joey Gorman,” he said of his junior southpaw who last year earned Second Team All-Catholic honors and who helped to one-hit the Lancers April 11.

Jaep, Kinee, Resnick and sophomore right-hander John Lamotta collectively work as the team’s second starter. Coupled with capable defense, they have frustrated foes and make their leader feel this year’s bunch has a better team concept than last year’s.

“This team is a bunch of goofballs, but it has great leadership, especially from the seniors,” Spadaccini said.

Zolk leads that group. The Northeast Philadelphia resident continued his torrid start with three hits and as many runs in the second McDevitt meeting. He began the season batting third but moved to the leadoff spot after two games.

“I love it,” he said of leading the offense.