Staff Writer

Scarborough High School senior Neil Ravin is currently enjoying his time playing in the outfield for the Red Storm baseball team.

However, when his playing days are over, he hopes he won’t stray too far from the game he’s loved since early childhood.

Ravin, who as of press time had a .320 batting average for the season, along with six stolen bases, will be a broadcast journalism major at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. this fall, in the hopes of becoming a sports broadcaster.

“Whenever I hang out with my friends, we listen to the game, and they say ‘That’s you. That’s what you should be doing.’ I realized I’ve enjoyed sports broadcasting my whole life,” Ravin said.

In the meantime, Ravin has been a part of an improved Red Storm team who has gone from eight wins a year ago to 11 wins this year, and are currently the number three seed for the playoffs behind Deering and Westbrook high schools, according to the latest Maine Principals’ Association standings.

Ravin said this year’seniors wanted to enjoy a special season after losing in extra innings to the Portland Bulldogs in the playoffs last season.

“I think after the loss last year, we thought this year could be special,” Ravin said. “We knew we would have eight wins. We know how we have to play and that’s pitch, hit and play defense.”

Ravin said he also credits work the team did at Frozen Ropes, an indoor baseball facility located in Portland during the winter. He said experience will be a key factor for the team as they head into the playoffs. He said seven of last year’s starters are back again this season.

“With our experience, we know we can contend with anyone,” Ravin said. “We need to battle all seven innings.”

Ravin has not committed any errors during the regular season and credits working on his defensive game during practices.

“When our coaches work with [the outfielders], they hit line drives, pop-ups, major league pop-ups. Outfielders work together for 20 minutes and our fielding has shown,” Ravin said.

Ravin said his greatest baseball moment at Scarborough was last month, when he scored the winning run from first base on a double hit by Blake Brubach against Portland in a 1-0 win at Hadlock Field in Portland.

“I had never run that fast in my life,” Ravin said.

Ravin, who also plays on the Red Storm golf and hockey team when he’s not playing baseball, said his love of the game began at a young age, with tee-ball.

“When you’re in the game, you’re not focused on anything else, just winning,” Ravin said. “It’s a great game because hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do. I hard to describe, I just love baseball.”

Ravin said he plans to play with the golf club at Quinnipiac and will try to walk onto the Bobcats baseball team. However, he said he plans to focus mainly on his future sports broadcasting career. To get himself prepared for school, Ravin said he has taken video production classes in school and has worked with Scarborough Community Television with video production of some Scarborough Town Council meetings.

Ravin said he has had a fun four years while attending Scarborough High School.

“I’ve made so many memories with friends, coaches and teammates, I’ll look forward to visiting with everyone,” Ravin said. “I’m glad to be done with school, but I now realize it’s a great school. We’re our own little town and everyone knows each other.”

Staff writer Dave Dyer can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 219