Start the New Year off with a bang and make a resolution to attend the Easton Baseball Diamond Club meeting. The January meeting will be held on Tuesday the 10th at 7PM in room D208 at the high school. 2012 is shaping up to be a great year, see you at the meeting.

The baseball season is fast approaching. Get involved, support your son and come to the next Easton Baseball Diamond Club meeting to be held on Tuesday, December 13th at 7PM at the high school, Room D208.

The first meeting of the Easton Baseball Diamond Club for the 2011-2012 school year will be held on Tuesday, October 11th at 7PM at the high school, room D208. Discussions on upcoming fundraisers, trips, etc. will be had. Looking forward to all baseball parents getting involved to make the upcoming season the best ever!

Anyone interested in playing Fall Baseball in the local high school league consisting of 12 schools as we did last year should contact Coach LaDuca at laducac@eastonsd.org. Players will have a small financial commitment of approximately $100 per player and will include insurance, uniform top, umpire fees, balls, 14 games, etc. This is not a school affiliated league even though local schools put teams in. We need permits to play on EAHS fields and is not a school sanctioned event. Games will begin in late August and end in mid October. Most weekends will be free. We will try to play most games during the week. Interested players need to let Coach LaDuca know of said interest through email no later than Monday August 1, 2011. Questions may also be directed to the email as well. Thank You Coach LaDuca

By Tom Hinkle, courtesy of the Express-Times Easton Area High School's baseball team reached into its bag of tricks just in time to save its season on Wednesday afternoon. Courtesy runner Ian Hayden raced home on a throwing error to cap a four-run seventh inning rally which carried the Red Rovers to a dramatic 7-6 victory over Parkland in a District 11 Class AAAA quarterfinal at Parkland High School. Junior Dominick Mancuso relieved Scott Anderson and pitched 3Ø innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. Ninth seeded Easton (12-10) advances to tonight's semifinals against No. 4 Emmaus at 6:30 at Sammy Balliet Stadium in Coplay. Third seeded Nazareth and No. 7 Northampton play in the first semifinal at 4 p.m. "We don't win here often but we couldn't have picked a better time to do it," Easton coach Carm LaDuca said. "This shows a lot about the character of this team. I'm thrilled for the kids. Our whole staff is elated." Top seeded Parkland, the Lehigh Valley Conference champion, finishes its season at 18-5. "Easton hung around and kept it close and we didn't make the plays in the last inning," Trojans coach Tony Galucy said. "We left the door open and they took advantage." "I have a tremendous amount of respect for those guys," LaDuca said while pointing to the Parkland dugout. "They're a great team and Tony Galucy does a great job with them." Easton came to bat trailing 6-3 in the seventh inning against Parkland ace pitcher Dan Shaw. Greg Butto reached on an error and Zach Olah singled to put two runners on with no outs. Matt Nelson relieved Shaw and Colin Case greeted him with an RBI double off the center field fence. "That was definitely a momentum swing," Case said. "It put a damper on Parkland and gave us a little fire." "After Case hit that double, that was it," Mancuso said. "It was bound to happen." A wild pitched made it 6-5 and put the tying run on third. Kevin Nemeth walked and Jonathan Bisci delivered a clutch RBI single to center to tie it. Conor Mulrine popped up a bunt for the first out. Scott Anderson bounced a potential double play ball to second but the return throw to first skidded away and Hayden sprinted home to give Easton the lead. "We never give up," Case said. "We always keep faith. Strange things happen when teams believe." Mancuso issued a out-out single to Nick Rabasco in the last of the seventh but retired Ben Breiner on a ground out and Ryan Sutovich on a fly ball to right to end it. "Every time we've called on Dominick this year he's done a great job," LaDuca said. "Today was really a good experience for him. It gave him a taste of playoff baseball and an air of confidence. "This is a great win for our program."

The Easton Area High School varsity baseball team will open the District XI AAAA playoffs tomorrow on the road. The Rovers will travel to Pocono Mountain East to face the Cardinals in a play-in game tomorrow afternoon. Game time is 4pm.

Click here for driving directions

The winner of the game will travel to Parkland to face the number one seeded Trojans on Tuesday at 4pm.

By Tom Hinkle, courtesy of the Express-Times Until January, freshman Luis Hernandez was nowhere to be found on the depth chart for Easton Area High School’s baseball team. The dynamics changed dramatically that month when it was learned star catcher Justin Pacchioli transferred to Nazareth. Junior Chase Bryant eventually took over behind the plate. Red Rovers coach Carm LaDuca recently took another hit when Bryant suffered a knee injury, which is expected to sideline him the rest of the season. Hernandez, a native of the Dominican Republic and who doesn’t speak English, was next in line for the job. Hernandez is expected to make his sixth straight start today when Easton plays Nazareth in the regular season finale at 4 p.m. at Nazareth Borough Park. It will be Pacchioli’s first game against his former teammates. Easton (10-9 overall, 7-6 LVC) began Thursday with a half-game lead over Liberty (12-6,, 8-6) atop the LVC East but that changed by day's end. The Red Rovers lost to Bethlehem Catholic 6-1, and the Hurricanes defeated rival Freedom 7-4, giving them the division crown on a division tie-breaker (best record within division). LaDuca first discovered Hernandez at an intramural workout over the winter. “He’s a stocky little thing, a Pudge Rodriguez type,” LaDuca said. “He’s got muscles coming out of the wazoo. The first thing I thought was ‘oh my god, this kid’s only a ninth grader?’ He has a lot of talent but you could tell he’s never really been coached. It took us a lot of work just to get him where he’s at now.” Hernandez’s family moved from the Dominican Republic to Easton two years ago. Hernandez spent last year at Easton Area Middle School. Hernandez is enrolled in Easton’s ESL (English Second Language) program. ESL is essentially the study of English by non-native speakers in an English-speaking environment. “From what I understand, all the teachers really like him,” LaDuca said. “He’s a nice young man. He always has that smile on his face. That’s Luis. He’s a very happy kid.” Danny Gonzalez, a student at Easton who was cut from the baseball team, has served as Hernandez’s interpreter in the dugout. “Danny has been a huge help to us,” LaDuca said. “He speaks perfect English but he also speaks Spanish very, very well. He’s at all the practices and everything. It’s a neat thing to see kids helping kids. Without him, it would be very difficult.” Hernandez began the season as the regular catcher on the Red Rovers’ junior varsity squad. His strong throwing arm was one of the main reasons he was elevated to varsity. Senior Steve Xiques is now the emergency catcher. “Luis has never missed a workout in the weight room,” LaDuca said. “He’s raw as a baseball player. He just needs some fine-tuning. We feel he needs to play.” LaDuca is confident Hernandez’s offense will come around. “He’s sort of a free swinger,” the coach said. “We think he can hold his own against most pitchers. Against the top-notch pitchers he might struggle for a while.” Hernandez has reportedly fit in well with his varsity teammates. “The seniors have done a good job making him feel welcome,” LaDuca said. “He feels he belongs on the team. He’s given us everything he has, and that’s all we can ask of him.” According to LaDuca, Hernandez’s biggest challenge is the spontaneous communication that comes up during the course of a game. “He can pretty much comprehend what we’re trying to get across to him,” he said. “His biggest problem is trying to communicate back to us.

By Tom Hinkle, courtesy of the Express-Times Justin Souders pitched a four-hitter and Kevin Nemeth blasted a two-run homer in the first inning today to lead Easton Area High School's baseball team to a 4-1 Lehigh Valley Conference victory over Liberty at Richards Field. The win ends a five-game losing streak for the Red Rovers (9-8 overall, 6-5 league) and pulls them into a virtual tie for first place with Liberty (11-6, 7-6) in the LVC East. The only run off Souders came on Luis Garcia's RBI groundout in the fourth inning. "We got a tremendous effort from Justin Souders today," Easton coach Carm LaDuca said. "We know what kind of pitcher he is. This was his best outing of the year." Easton gave Souders all the support he needed by scoring three runs in the first inning off Matt Albright. Greg Butto led off with a walk. One out later shortstop Colin Case smoked an RBI triple to deep right-center. Nemeth followed with a towering drive over the left field fence. The Red Rovers added another run in the sixth inning when Steven Xiques scored on a wild pitch.

By Tom Hinkle, courtesy of the Express-Times The Easton Area High School baseball team seemed to do all the right things in the sixth inning of Monday morning's 3-0 victory over Bethlehem Catholic as part of the Lehigh Valley Conference Play Day at Coca-Cola Park. Connor Casey of Bethlehem Catholic and Scott Anderson of Easton were locked in a scoreless pitcher's dual when the Red Rovers came to bat in the bottom of the sixth. Lead off batter Greg Butto started the uprising with a liner into the right-center field gap that he stretched into a double. Anderson struck out, but Butto alertly advanced to third when the ball was dropped by the catcher. With the infield drawn in, Colin Case slapped a ground single to right field to get the Red Rovers on the board. "I thought about a (suicide) squeeze," Easton coach Carm LaDuca said, "but Colin is a senior captain and I wanted to give him a chance to drive the run in." Case admitted his chances improved significantly with the infield moved in. "The holes are bigger with the infield in and if you hit it on the ground it might scoot by," he said. "During batting practice we've really worked on hitting with runners in scoring position. We've struggled in that area lately." The run turned out to be enough for Anderson, who finished with a two-hit shutout. But the Red Rovers didn't stop there. Kevin Nemeth and Jon Bisci walked to load the bases. Conor Mulrine blooped an RBI single into short right-center, and pinch hitter Zach Olah delivered a sacrifice fly to short center field. "Those are the little things you have to do to win a close ball game," LaDuca said. Easton is now 3-0 in Play Day games at Coca-Cola Park. The Red Rovers defeated Parkland and Whitehall the previous two seasons. "This is my third year playing here so the nerves are kind of gone by now," Case said. "My sophomore year I was pretty nervous. Now I'm a senior captain and I get to enjoy it, I'd say." Even in defeat, Bethlehem Catholic coach Mike Grasso was grateful for the opportunity to play at the home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. "I'm so happy for the kids," Grasso said. "I'm just glad we got the game in. It's a great atmosphere here and I'd really like to thank the IronPigs organization. They've really extended themselves to us."

Todays Varsity game against Bethlehem Catholic that was supposed to be played at Coca Cola Park, has been cancelled due to poor field conditions. No makeup date has been set.

Robert Bertolotti struck out four batters in two innings of relief today as Liberty High School's baseball team hung on for a 4-2 Lehigh Valley Conference victory over previously unbeaten Easton at William Sheridan Field. Bertolotti relieved winning pitcher Matt Albright in the sixth inning with Liberty (2-1 overall, 1-1 LVC) leading 4-2 and Easton runners on first and second with no outs. Bertolotti walked the first batter he faced but got out of the jam on a ground out and two strikeouts. Bertolotti walked two more batters in the seventh but struck out Jonathan Bisci to end it. "Robert is as capable as anybody," Liberty coach Andy Pitsilos said. "He really showed he can bear down and focus. That's upstairs. He has a tough mentality." Shortstop Jim McCarthy was 2-for-2 with two stolen bases, a double, run scored, and RBI for Liberty. Greg Butto had an RBI double in the third inning for Easton (3-1, 1-1).

Justin Souders picked up the win on the hill for the Rovers in a 10-6 non-league game victory over visiting Hazleton. Souders was backed by two 3 run HR by Jon Bisci and Kevin Nemeth.

After a safe arrival into Ft. Lauderdale Airport Sunday night, a solid nights sleep was necessary in preparation for a full Monday of baseball. A 6:30 wake up call made way for a team breakfast and an orientation session with Chicago Cubs great Larry Hoskin. Bucky Dent Baseball School day one started with seventy-degree clear skies, perfect for the Easton Baseball Team to begin a week of hard work with past Major League Baseball coaches and players including Bucky Dent himself. A team stretch and callisthenic warm up started our morning workout followed by position players being divided up for individual instruction. During this time infielders had the opportunity to be instructed and take infield practice with Bucky Dent while outfielders, pitchers, and catchers received individual instruction from other MLB personalities. After a two-hour workout, lunch preceded the afternoons contests between the Easton Area High School Baseball Program Team A and Team B. Glenelg, a high school baseball program from Maryland took on Easton’s Team A on a field built to mimic the historic Fenway Park in Boston. Easton Team A won the afternoon’s contest 8-2. The Easton B team played a program from Rhode Island called Moses Brown. Team B won the contest 8-7.

The next meeting of the Easton Baseball Diamond Club for the 2010-2011 school year will be held on Thursday, March 10th at 7PM at the High School, in Room D208. Final plans for the upcoming Florida trip and bingo will be discussed. Mark your calendar and plan on attending!

The next meeting of the Easton Baseball Diamond Club for the 2010-2011 school year will be held on Tuesday, February 1st at 7PM at the High School, in Room D208. Final plans for the Dance to be held on Feb. 12th will be discussed as well as more information on the Florida Trip and upcoming Bingo. Mark your calendars to attend. Your support is needed!