Andon Parascando warms up before a home game against Princeton on May 18. Notre Dame won, 8-2. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
Andon Parascando’s favorite moment as a kid playing baseball is now his biggest nightmare when he’s on the field.
“Growing up, especially in little league, nothing beats hitting the ball out of the park,” Parascando said. “But I can’t do that now because the field got a lot bigger. The second best thing was striking kids out. It brings joy to me.”
The strikeout has been elevated to the best thing for Parascando, a junior pitcher on Notre Dame High’s baseball team. Obviously, a ball going out of the park has dropped way down on the list.
“I don’t like seeing that too much now,” he said with a laugh.
He didn’t see it this year, his first varsity season. Through his first four starts, Parascando went 2-0 with a 2.72 ERA, 17 strikeouts and 12 walks in 23.2 innings. Notre Dame was 4-0 in those starts.
“In the beginning of the season we only had two games a week so it was hard to get him starts,” Irish coach Joe Drulis said. “We have other good pitchers. We have (Mercer County Tournament MVP) Derek Schmidt, he’s very good, Sean Smith was 5-2 last year. We have Mike Walley who’s 6-0 in his two years. We’re very blessed with a deep pitching staff so it’s hard to get people starts, but Andon has done a great job for us when we’ve put him out there.”
Parascando has been a pitcher since youth. The southpaw said that being left-handed influenced his decision to move to the mound. He played for the Lawrence Little League and Lawrence Babe Ruth, with his parents never having to alter their route to games.
“I started by playing T-ball, and everything was on the same road on Eggert’s Crossing growing up,” Parascando said, adding that he fell in love with baseball right away.
He also excelled at it. By his freshman year, he ventured off Eggerts’ Crossing, turned right on Route 206 and headed south for Notre Dame, where he promptly earned Pitcher of the Year honors for a freshman team that went 14-3.
Parascando continued his progress as a sophomore, going 6-0 on a JV team that was 18-0 last season.
“I think last year helped a lot,” he said. “I think last year versus this year, the competition on the JV level as a whole throughout the county was a lot more difficult. There were guys who graduated last year, so that opened up a lot of spots on varsity teams and guys moved up. The JV last year was a lot more competitive it seems than it has been this year. And the coaching helped a lot. I enjoyed it.”
Parascando made the big team this year but had a rough varsity debut in relief when he was touched for seven hits, three walks and four earned runs in three innings against Hopewell on April 8.
He put that behind him and, in his first start on April 21, the southpaw allowed two hits, two runs (one earned) and three walks while striking out eight in a complete-game win over Princeton Day School. That was followed by five solid innings against West Windsor-Plainsboro South for his second win.
His next two starts were no-decisions, although he pitched decent in allowing five runs in 8.1 innings as the Irish defeated Hamilton in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals and Steinert in a regular-season game on May 14.
“I think so far I’ve done really well but every single time there’s always going to be those little mistakes you do in a game that really bother you, that no one really notices but you notice it yourself,” Parascando said. “I definitely need to improve on a few minor things to throw my game up to the next level.”
Parascando is fortunate to have an array of pitches at his disposal. He considers his curve-ball to be his go-to pitch but has others to mix in.
“My four seam fastball has a tight little bite to it, especially to a right-handed batter,” he said. “I can start it off at his body and it breaks and comes back to the inside part of the plate. Other than my fastball I like to go to my two-seam, my curve.”
He also opts for a change-up when batters make contact with fastballs and curveballs aren’t fooling them. Parascando also keeps a cutter in his arsenal.
Drulis added that “he locates his pitches well. He has good off-speed stuff, he locates his curveball well, and he doesn’t get flustered.”
That’s because he doesn’t give himself time to get flustered. Watching him work, one would think Parascando was getting married right after the game and the bride was threatening to leave him at the altar if he was late. After each pitch, he gets the ball back and is immediately ready to go.
He works better that way and feels he is giving the folks what they want.
“I’m notorious for getting the ball and just working,” Parascando said. “I know all the fans want to get home as soon as they can and I want to progress the game. No one likes to be out there in the hot sun for that long. Going slower only brings more errors because guys are getting bored behind you. When you have a nice, concise, quick pitching movement it works well for all.”
When Parascando is not pitching, he makes his presence felt in other ways. Drulis said he is one of the first guys to get after foul balls. He’ll also keep pitching charts, take notes and do whatever else it takes to help him or the team improve.
“He’s awesome,” the coach said. “He’s just a fabulous kid.”
He’s also a comfortable kid. As Notre Dame was heading into the state tournament after winning the Mercer County Tournament mid-May, Parascando felt that he belonged.
“The whole environment is great,” he said. “I’ve grown to love all the guys. The beginning of the year I was real quiet and shy around all of them, because it was a whole new world. Now the camaraderie between all of us has improved, it’s nice playing with all these guys. I enjoy it a lot.”
Andon will play American Legion ball this summer with Lawrence Post 414 and is also playing for the New Jersey Marlins Showcase team.
“I’m just trying to open myself up to college coaches and scouts,” he said. “I would love to play college baseball.”
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