Redshirt first-year pitcher Duke Coborn set the tone for St. Thomas baseball Saturday with his eight inning, two hit performance in a 9-1 win over Crown College at Koch Diamond. The result snapped a four game winning streak for Crown and kept St. Thomas’ undefeated home record this season alive.
Crown used seven pitchers throughout the game as St. Thomas sprinkled on at least one run in seven of their eight innings at the plate. Six of the nine St. Thomas’ runs were scored by players who reached base on a walk.
St. Thomas coach Chris Olean talked about his team’s ability to take advantage of mistakes.
“If we can continue to put pressure on the other team and we have some runners out there to capitalize on, good stuff happens,” Olean said.
This was Coborn’s longest and most efficient outing of the season carrying momentum from his start 10 days ago against Bethel when he pitched seven innings and allowed only one run.
“I try not to go out and use all my energy in the first, I try to pace myself out for the length of the game so I was feeling pretty good towards the end there,” Coborn said.
Olean considers Coborn to be his third best arm behind fifth-year Andrew Tri and senior Graham Laubscher, but he expressed confidence in all three.
“That’s one thing we are a little blessed with is good pitching and, in general, we are in most games with those guys,” Olean said.
Redshirt sophomore first baseman Kyle Chirboga was relieved to capture his first hit in over a month which scored senior outfielder Avery Lehman from first base.
“It was really nice to see that ball get over the third baseman and go down the line, grab two and a run on the scoreboard,” Chirboga said. “The stuff in the books doesn’t really give the whole story of what I’ve done this season and the things I’m improving on.”
Redshirt first-year infielder Sam Kusla scored three runs and drove in two runs in the lead-off position.
A throwing error by redshirt first-year Kyle Wichlinski allowed junior outfielder Kyle Schroedle to score the Storm’s only run.
The Tommies will host Carleton College on Tuesday for a doubleheader at 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Joey Swanson can be reached at swan5350@stthomas.edu.