Danny NO-NO

The lasting image of the St. Francis Prep baseball season was of a wild celebratory scrum just below the pitcher’s mound at St. John’s University’s Jack Kaiser Stadium. At the bottom of the raucous pile was Danny Forman, the Terriers ace, a senior who etched his name into the record books and St. Francis Prep lore with an unforgettably commanding performance.
Four days after his one-hitter over Molloy propelled St. Francis into the finals, the talented southpaw authored an apropos ending to a dream senior season.
He not only pitched the Terriers past Regis, 8-0, Friday night in the CHSAA ‘A’ final, the first city crown for the Fresh Meadows School since 1996 and their 12th overall, but also tossed a no-hitter, his first ever on any level.
“It has to be the best [performance] I ever saw,” St. Francis Coach Brother Robert Kent said.
Forman struck out 14 and walked none in his 93-pitch masterpiece. He allowed just three Raiders to reach - two on errors, one via a third strike wild pitch. He neutralized Regis’s left-handed heavy lineup, breaking them down with a mid 80’s fastball he spotted on both sides of the plate in addition to a devastating curveball and effective changeup.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for five days,” he said. “I’m standing in my room in front of the mirror [and] I go through my windup. I act as if I’m pitching. This is where I wanted to be.”
He sure pitched like it. The Manhattan-bound left-hander struck out the side in the fifth and seventh innings and whiffed five in a row and six of seven at one point. He stranded one Regis runner at third twice, in the second and fourth innings, whiffing Rudy Quinn and Nick Capuano to quell each threat. Forman completed the no-no by blowing a high fastball past Joe Romano.
“Sometimes you can just feel it - when your pitches are on, everything is fluid,” he said. “Today, I was just hitting my spots. I was on.”
The remarkable outing was his fifth shutout of the year, and fourth win this postseason. He finished his career by allowing just three earned runs in his last 10 starts, and by capping the championship with a no-hitter. Not bad for a middle-of-the-rotation starter just last year as a junior.
“He worked extremely hard in the off-season,” Kent said. “This year he wanted the ball all the time. He would bother me during the week to pitch in relief.”
The Terriers (19-5) made the final outcome a mere formality by bashing three Regis pitchers to the tune of eight runs on 10 hits. Second baseman Mike Canfarotta drove in the game’s first run in the second with an RBI groundout, plating senior Sebastian Grazziani. Junior shortstop Lucas Romeo’s two-run homer in the third pushed the lead to 3-0, and outfielder Paul Karmas, the St. John’s recruit who was the lone Terrier left who started on the ‘05 club that lost in the championship game to Moore Catholic, added a three-run double in the seventh.
In recent days, Karmas shared stories about that magnificent run - one that included four victories while facing elimination - with his teammates. He explained the thrilling ride, but also the heartbreaking end. Therefore, when Forman completed the no-no by whiffing Capuano with another blazing high fastball, Karmas battled to withhold tears as he sprinted into the scrum.
“It feels real sweet to win it this year,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. Nobody expected this.”