Fresh off the best season in school history, Dan McDonnell’s University of Louisville baseball team has recently landed verbal commitments from a pair of Midwestern standouts.
Mike Nastold, a right-handed pitcher from Cincinnati (OH) Elder and Tony Zych, a pitcher/second baseman from Chicago, have decided to cast their lots with the Cardinals.
Nastold, named the 2006 Ohio Baseball Player of the Year, is considered the top professional baseball prospect in the Cincinnati-area.
Mike Nastold |
At 6-foot-4, 210-pounds, Nastold is rated the No. 1 prospect in Ohio and No. 92 nationally by Perfect Game, the largest amateur baseball scouting service. Last season, he was 7-4 with a 1.20 ERA. He had 94 strikeouts in 67 innings. As a sophomore, Nastold went 8-0 with an eye-popping 0.30 ERA.
Last season, first-year coach Dan McDonnell led Louisville to its first College World Series appearance and the Cardinals on-field success seems to have translated into improved recruiting off the field.
"Their coaches got them farther than they'd ever been,” Nastold, who chose Louisville over Arizona State, Ole Miss, Penn State, Mississippi State and North Carolina, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Also, everything down there is new. It's a great place to be."
Zych, also a right-hander, developed into a bona-fide star on the mound last season. Standing 6-2, Zych has one of the strongest arms in the state of Illinois.
“Tony is the real deal,” St. Rita coach Mike Zunica said.
Zych batted .416 with four homers and 41 RBI, while going 9-3 with one save on the mound as a junior. Zych is rated the No. 3 player in Illinois by Prep Baseball Report.