Former Thunderbolt Zach Racusin Wins First Pro Ring in Tenth Pro Season

By Thunderbolts Staff

Former Thunderbolt great Zachary Racusin (2015, 2016) has been playing organized baseball for most of his 32 years. Since 2013, he has played on five college teams, thirteen Independent League teams (several of them twice or more), and two sojourns of summer ball with the Thunderbolts.

And not once did he win a championship—that is, until last month. On January 21, Zach finally earned a ring as a right fielder with the Leones de Leon team of the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League (Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional or LBPN). Leon won its tenth Championship—the most in League history—and second in a row by defeating Rivas Gigantes, 1-0, in the seventh and deciding game of the Championship Series, La Gran Final.

“I won my first pro ring in my tenth pro season,” Racusin told us.

Racusin was one of the greatest Thunderbolts to don the red, white, and blue. For his two seasons with the Bolts in the Ripken League, he hit an overall .335 and had an .805 OBP in 74 games. He still holds the Thunderbolts record for hits in a single season with 58 in 2016 when he batted .352. 

Zach Racusin as a Thunderbolt batting on a beautiful day at Blair. Photo by David Stinson.

After college ball, he embarked on a ten-year career in Independent Baseball with a combined .283 average and an OBP of .708.

Racusin’s road to Nicaragua began last spring. “I got in touch with the team back in the early spring coming off a strong season with Long Island in the Atlantic League in 2024, “ he said. There are only a few legitimate winter leagues in the Caribbean, and they scout American affiliated and partner league teams for import players. They reached out and we cut a deal.”

Winter baseball in Nicaragua, said Racusin, is played at a high level. “As far as the quality of play, it's a very good league. The pitching is very tough,” he said, “there are a lot of guys with Major League experience down there, just like in all the winter leagues, and with such a scarcity of jobs everywhere these days, it is very competitive. “ 

One of those guys with Major League experience is a former 11-time Gold Glove shortstop with 24 years in the bigs, Omar Vizquel. Vizquel managed Rivas Gigante, the team that Racusin’s Leones defeated for the Nicaraguan championship.

“Having people like Omar being part of the league is a great thing,” Racusin went on, “there's a lot of guys with high level MLB, AAA, Mexico, NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), and KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) experience down there and you have to be able to adjust and navigate to how veteran pitchers may try to attack you, because they are smart and experienced and will not give in.”

Racusin was the everyday right fielder for Leones de Leon and was named to the All-Star game. In the All-Star game he played for the Extranjeros or Estrellas (foreigners) team against an all-Nicaraguan squad, the Nacionales. Vizquel managed the Estrellas and the manager of Zach’s team, Leones de Leon, Sandor Guido, managed the Nacionales. 

Zachary Racusin swinging for a double as a member of the Estrellas in the LBPN All-Star Game.

Playing for Leon worked out well for Zach, who fit in easily, “I really enjoyed our clubhouse, we had very good chemistry as a team and gelled down the stretch. We weren't necessarily that hot at the beginning of the season but got hot at the right time and started to get on a roll during the round robin portion of the playoffs.”

He added, “I speak fluent Spanish, so I felt comfortable communicating with everybody on the team, and I attribute a lot of my success down there to being comfortable in communication. We also had a decent chunk of American imports (seven of 43), so it made for a good blend.”

The fans in Nicaragua were one of the highlights of playing there, he said: “The crowds and fanbases and the atmosphere down there, particularly during the playoff stretch, were absolutely unbelievable.” Racusin went on to recall that, “The amount of passion they have for their teams and the intensity on each pitch made it an unforgettable environment. Towards the end, you are playing in front of as many as ten thousand people a night. People recognize you on the street. It's a whole different thing than playing in the Minor Leagues in the States.

“You really feel that you are representing the town and your region and the community there and it's a very cool feeling to deliver. Our championship celebration felt like it lasted two full days.”

During the season, he finished with a .286 batting average and an .824 OPS. He also was among the leaders in the Championship Series hitting .316. 

Racusin will stay south of the border as he was selected to play in the upcoming Serie de Las Americas. The Serie includes champions of leagues in Argentina, Curacao, Colombia, and Nicaragua, with Cuba, Panama, and Brazil sending their respective national teams. The Serie starts this week (February 5) and goes through February 13.

Following that, Zach says all options are on the table for the spring and summer of 2026. But whatever happens down the road, he won’t forget his first championship ring—ten years in the making—or his winter home: “Nicaragua is a beautiful country, and I will always look back fondly upon spending my time in Leon.”

Just as the Thunderbolts looked back fondly on his spending time with the team in 2015 and 2016.

We’ll try and update Zach’s adventures in the Serie de Las Americas and beyond in the weeks ahead. Thanks to former Thunderbolt board member David Stinson and Zachary Racusin for their help with this article.