Nick Carlini
Keystone College baseball coach Jamie Shevchik is expecting as many as seven of his nine seniors, including Abington Heights graduate Nick Carlini, to return to the school after missing out on most of their 2020 season because of the coronavirus.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has issued an additional year of eligibility for spring college athletes, all of which lost the bulk of, if not the entire, 2020 season when sports were shut down by the pandemic.
“Carlini’s coming back,” Shevchik said. “When most people say, ‘why would you come back and play Division III baseball?’ I think, especially to Nick Carlini, I don’t think a lot of people understand what the starting point for Nick Carlini was.
“Here’s a kid who didn’t start in high school baseball. He didn’t get a lot of playing time at Abington. He came into Keystone as basically a walk-on.”
Carlini rose through the program in his time with the Giants.
“He developed through hard work to be one of the better Division III players in the country,” Shevchik said. “After having the year he had last year, we were all excited to see what he was going to do in his senior year. We thought he put himself in position to maybe be playing professional baseball or independent ball, but that got taken away from him.”
After going 0-for-4 in just five appearances as a freshman, Carlini became a valuable part of the team as a sophomore when he got much of his work as a defensive replacement at third base.
Carlini made six starts and played in a total of 20 games in 2018. He batted .244 with three doubles, a homer and eight RBI.
Last season, Carlini started in every game for the 25-16 team. He batted .315 with eight doubles, two triples and nine RBI. He stole seven bases, scored 36 runs and drove in 34.
Carlini had again started all six games that were able to be played in the 2020 season. He was 7-for-23 (.304) with two doubles, six runs and five RBI.
In a story on the Keystone website, Carlini said he plans to pursue a Master’s degree in business and take advantage of the extra year the NCAA is offering.
“I was grateful the NCAA gave another year of eligibility to spring athletes,” he said. “Everything about Keystone College baseball is so special to me and it’s something I never took for granted.
“To have an opportunity to give this one last go-around makes me so happy.”
