Memory Lane: Zack Daszenzo starred for LH, had successful college career
Zack Dascenzo came from an athletic family and followed in his father蘑菇视频 footsteps and played baseball.
Doug Daszenzo had an outstanding high school and college baseball career and then played seven seasons in the big leagues. He is still in baseball, working for the Chicago Cubs as outfield and baserunning coordinator.
Son Zack got into athletics at an early age.
鈥淪ports was something that we started at a young age in our house,鈥� Zack stated. 鈥淲ith a couple of younger siblings even the sisters were into athletics and that was a big part of growing up for sure, everything from baseball to football to swimming.
鈥淚 played soccer and football when I was younger in elementary school. As I got older I mainly just focused on baseball and that was definitely my top sport.鈥�
Having a dad who was a major league player gave Zack a blueprint.
鈥淒ad was a big influence for sure,鈥� Zack offered. 鈥淓very little boy wants to be like their dad growing up and he was fortunate enough to make it to the highest level so someone you tried to emulate for sure.鈥�
The younger Dascenzo got to soak up the big league experience because of his dad.
鈥淥h yeah absolutely,鈥� Zack said. 鈥淓ven with his coaching career afterwards by the time I was in elementary school and middle school we were always taking trips out to see him and hanging out with the guys in the locker room and taking batting practice with them pregame. Then once I was in college I got to serve a few internships. I was a sport management major, so I would always intern with whatever team he was with, work a little bit in the front office and then go down and get a little workout with the guys as well. It was kind of the best of both worlds.鈥�
Having a father who was a major league player can put a lot of pressure on a young athlete. That was not the case with Dascenzo.
鈥淭hat蘑菇视频 one thing I do have to commend my dad about,鈥� Zack stated. 鈥淗e never ever put any kind of pressure on me to follow in his footsteps per se. It was always just internal motivation to kind of want to do it myself. He kind of helped along the way as much as he could, but he never put any kind of pressure on any of us kids growing up in sports or anything like that.鈥�
The elder Dascenzo was a speedy outfielder when he played. His son donned the tools of ignorance and became a catcher.
鈥淭hat蘑菇视频 a funny story,鈥� Zack explained. 鈥淚 always played around with it as a kid, putting on the gear or the tools of ignorance, but, comparing myself to my dad, I was a little bit bigger frame and a little heavier and not quite as fast as he was. It was in middle school or ninth grade that Laurel Highlands coach Tom Landman kind of needed a catcher at that level and I was geared for it and just kind of stuck with it and took a liking to it and took a lot of pride in doing it because it蘑菇视频 one of those positions where a lot of what you do doesn鈥檛 show up in the stats.鈥�
He developed into an outstanding catcher and had a solid career behind the plate for the Mustangs.
At Laurel Highlands, Dascenzo helped lead the Mustangs to consecutive Section 2-AAA championships and was selected to the All-Section and All-County teams in his junior and senior seasons. In his senior campaign in 2008, the Mustangs defeated Steel Valley in the WPIAL playoffs before being eliminated in the second round by eventual champion West Allegheny.
鈥淚 had a great relationship with Coach Landman,鈥� Zack said. 鈥淔rom the classroom to the playing field he was a guy that you loved to play for and he always made everybody comfortable and he was a real joy to play for. He definitely grew my love of the game.鈥�
Dascenzo loved his teammates at LH.
鈥淲e had quite a few good players on those teams,鈥� Zack recalled. 鈥淨uite a few guys went on to play college baseball like Nick Erminio, Mike Newhouse, and Mason Tupta. We had a good group of guys and that made it fun and we had a lot of success.鈥�
Dascenzo was selected by the San Diego Padres in 2008 coming out of high School in the 41st round. He chose to go to college.
鈥淚 think at the time the draft was so big and I was selected in one of the last few rounds,鈥� Zack stated. 鈥淚t just made more sense to go to college, get an education and physically mature and develop as a player and see where that went. I don鈥檛 think I was quite ready for pro baseball at the time.鈥�
When Dascenzo graduated from Laurel Highlands in 2008 he sifted through some college baseball offers.
鈥淭here were quite a few schools,鈥� Zack explained. 鈥淓verything from the Division-III level up to a few Division-I schools. Ultimately landed on Ohio Dominican through the recommendation of a Colorado Rockies scout, Ed Santa. He had known my dad and knew the coach at Ohio Dominican and they were a well known baseball school. When I came in they were just leaving NAIA after playing in the NAIA World Series and they were moving to NCAA Division II.
鈥淐oach Paul Page was a very good coach. He developed a lot of good players.鈥�
At Ohio Dominican, Dascenzo was a double-redshirt.
鈥淢y freshman year at our second or third practice they were having me workout at third base just to have some flexibility,鈥� Zack recalled. 鈥淚 made a play on the ball diving down the line and when I caught the ball and hit the ground I actually blew out my shoulder and had to have pretty extensive labrum surgery.鈥�
Dascenzo posted good numbers for the Panthers. During the 2010-11 season he batted .294 with two home runs and 14 RBIs. The team finished 19-27. In 2011-12 the Panthers finished 24-24 and Dascenzo batted .333 with one home run and 12 RBIs.
Redshirt junior Dascenzo capped his Ohio Dominican baseball career with a walk-off single in the ninth inning of game two to help the Panthers to a 5-4 win over No. 10 Grand Valley State.
鈥淭hat was senior day and the last weekend at Ohio Dominican. We were playing Grand Valley State,鈥� Zack reported. 鈥淚 remember having a perfect day in the doubleheader. I was 4-for-4 combined and had three walks and a game-winning hit. It was a good day.鈥�
Dascenzo is pleased with his decision to go to Ohio Dominican.
鈥淵eah I think so,鈥� Zack stated. 鈥淚 got a degree and met a lot of good friends.鈥�
Dascenzo was on some mock MLB draft lists.
鈥淚 never got any phone calls,鈥� Zack said. 鈥淚 got some Frontier League offers, but after talking with my dad the shoulder was still kind of banged up and it just made more sense to hang it up.鈥�
Dascenzo, 33, returned to Fayette County and worked for 84 Lumber and is now a consultant for the Natural Gas Industry. He and his fiance Samantha are getting married in September.
Looking back, Dascenzo is pleased with the way athletics shaped his life.
鈥淗onestly translating athletics into the oil and gas industry is what kept me in this industry,鈥� Dascenzo offered. 鈥淚t reminds me a lot of athletics with the camaraderie with the guys you are working with everyday.鈥�
George Von Benko蘑菇视频 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 蘑菇视频. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.