Rasor Sharp As South Broward Shuts Out Nova

The right arm and shoulder of South Broward junior pitcher Ken Rasor might be a little sore this morning, but he won’t mind.

That’s because his three-hit shutout in Tuesday’s 6-0 win over Nova kept the Bulldogs undefeated in this young season and sitting pretty atop District 7A-16.

“We were going back and forth with who we were going to start tonight,” Bulldogs Manager Joe Giummule said. “We went with him (Rasor), and it worked out well for us. He threw a great game.”

Rasor got out of an early jam, sparked a monster second inning with a superb leadoff bunt and finished with six strikeouts as he threw mostly fastballs with the odd curve and change-up mixed in.

“I just felt confident in throwing strikes tonight, and I knew my defense would back me up. Once we got those six runs, I knew I could shut the door,” Rasor said. “We’re one of the top dogs in the district and can beat anybody.”

Going up against Nova (2-2, 2-1) starter Bryan Barrows, who had impressed Thursday in a win over McArthur, Rasor got off to a bit of a bumpy start when he allowed the first two runners of the game to reach via a single and a walk. But a pickoff at second followed by a pair of fly balls to center got him out of the sticky situation.

Barrows also struggled in the first, and and Rasor led off the second with a bunt.

Bryan Mugione followed up Rasor’s effort with a single, and then Mike Cohick laid down another gem of a bunt to load the bases with no outs. Up stepped designated hitter Cody Behr, who proceeded to rip a two-run double down the left-field line.

A walk to Sony Tusa loaded the bags again, and then the second error in as many innings by the Titans’ infield allowed a third run to score. An RBI single by Matt Cohick was followed by a two-run base hit by Colin Tindall that put an end to Barrow’s night.

With a six-run cushion, Rasor came out with some swagger in the third and struck out the side. He continued to cruise, not allowing his second hit of the game until the fifth inning. It wasn’t until the sixth when he started to tire, but the Titans just couldn’t find a way to put a run across.

“We’re just inexperienced and made mistakes in that big inning. They probably should only have scored one or two runs, but we hurt ourselves,” Nova Manager Pat McQuaid said. “We were also 0-for-8 with a runner on second, and I think we had 14 fly ball outs.”

McQuaid did get a good night out of reliever Louis Pugliese, who blanked the Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0) over the final 4 1/3 innings, and leadoff hitter Ruben Diaz had a couple of hits.

But the night belonged to South Broward, who become the first team to shut out the Titans since their 5-0 regional quarterfinal loss to Wellington in 2011.

“We’re veterans,” said Giummule, whose team already is now more than halfway to its nine wins from last season. “Most of these guys have started for three or four years. We’re blue collar. We show up every day and we grind it out. We put a good product on the field, and we teach the fundamentals.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!