Easton, PA — By Corky Blake | For lehighvalleylive.com Easton Area High School seniors Patrick Keegan and Darius Nettles know their baseball careers will be over when the Red Rovers’ promising 2022 campaign concludes. Keegan is Easton’s starting right fielder, but he will be moving on to the high seas as a member of the United States Coast Guard. Nettles, a reserve outfielder, believed he was bound for Marine Corps boot camp upon graduation. However, he recently was awarded a $180,000 ROTC scholarship, and his plans now have him first attending college and then enlisting in the Marines as a second lieutenant. Keegan and Nettles were honored prior to first pitch on Saturday morning when the Red Rovers hosted neighboring Wilson in a non-league game on Military Appreciation Day. The Red Rovers, ranked No. 3 by lehighvalleylive.com, improved to 8-0 heading into a crucial stretch of their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference schedule next week with a 15-0 three-inning, mercy rule victory over the young Warriors at Richards Field. Keegan, batting fifth, filled out his stat line with an RBI single in the second inning, two runs and a stolen base. Nettles entered in the bottom of the third with a wave of reserves and induced a bases-loaded walk to push across the Red Rovers’ 14th run. “Our team the focus is on family, and that’s taught me to be part of a team. That should help me in the Marines,” Nettles said. Easton manager Carm LaDuca said Keegan’s been a solid, four-year contributor to the program who should do well in his future endeavors. “My sister (Mackie) enlisted in the Coast Guard three years ago, and I’ve always liked the water,” Keegan said. “My grandparents own a house in LBI (Long Beach, New Jersey) so we’d go there a lot.” Before he reports for duty at the end of the summer at Cape May, New Jersey, Keegan and his teammates have a lot of baseball to play. The Red Rovers’ best win to date was a 9-3 win on Monday over Freedom. This week, they’ll be severely tested by Liberty on Tuesday, defending EPC and District 11 Class 6A champion Emmaus at home on Thursday and Pleasant Valley on Saturday. “We’re excited to play and show we’re the real deal,” Keegan said. “We have a lot of tough opponents coming up.” The Red Rovers took care of business with five runs in the first and sixth in the second against Wilson sophomore right-hander Hunter Stasak. They closed the game with four runs off lefty reliever Frank Thatcher in the third. Senior right-hander Jacob Hirner, a Muhlenberg College recruit, allowed a clean single in the second and an infield hit in the third while striking out five and walking one. He needed only 46 pitches and will be ready to go during the EPC gauntlet. “He was coming out no matter what (after the third),” LaDuca said, “because we have a big week coming up. Those games will be a big test, and part of our talk with the kids was earning respect. We can do that by continuing to play well.” LaDuca also was pleased with his team’s quality at-bats and the Rovers immediately jumping on Wilson. “We had a little bit of a problem earlier with not flipping the switch until the third or fourth inning,” LaDuca said. “We want to try and get out to an early lead, and we’re getting better with that.” First baseman AJ Thomas’ two-run triple to the right-center field gap highlighted the first inning, which included an RBI sacrifice fly from junior third baseman Brandon de la Rosa and an RBI single from senior designed hitter Blake Heitzman. Keegan, Heitzman, AJ Thomas and junior center fielder Ryan Coulombe delivered RBI singles in the second as Easton again batted around the order. Laduca emptied the bench in the third. Ryan Holmes stroked an RBI single to score Ryan Bowman. Aidan Haffner’s infield ground was misplayed and plated a run, Nettles drew his bases-loaded walk, and Josh Perry ended the game with a single to center to score Holmes with the 15th run. Wilson’s first-year coach Dave Hinkle, formerly the head man at Phillipsburg, was appreciative of Easton hosting the Warriors, who started six sophomores, three seniors and a freshman. “When I got the job and I saw we had one open game, the first call I made was to Carm,” Hinkle said. “I said when we were shaking hands with them after the game it was like shaking hands with men. That’s a big school with a lot of seniors. This was a good experience for our guys.”Watching how the Red Rovers approached their at-bats should be a tutorial, too, for the Warriors (5-3). Sometimes, the Rovers worked the count to get a pitch to hit; other times they jumped on the first pitch. “They have a lot of good hitters who put the ball in play,” Hinkle said. “Our guys saw the importance of putting the ball in play.” Wilson also has a big week – weather permitting -- of Colonial League games coming up against Palmerton, Northwestern and Catasauqua. “I don’t think this (loss) will faze them at all because I think they’re too young,” Hinkle said. “We were 10-runned (mercy rule) in our first two games and came back the next day after the second one and played a great game to defeat Bangor. “I told them we’re only going fast-forward and we don’t rewind, so we’ll forget this one and get ready for Palmerton on Monday.” Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Corky Blake can be reached at [email protected].