Junior Dylan Thomas and sophomore Steve Maher are the top two pitchers in a rotation that has led the St. Thomas baseball team ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the MIAC.

The pair has combined for 13 of the team’s 26 victories this season, and they are both undefeated in conference play.

“The only ‘stat’ that seems to matter with these guys is wins,” coach Chris Olean said. “That’s what we wanted to stay with throughout the season.”

This season, the Tommies won all 16 of their conference games, went 28-4 and earned their 10th consecutive MIAC championship.

Along with this pair’s strong play on the field, Maher and Thomas received some ‘interesting’ nicknames from TommieSports.com blogger Gene McGivern.

“From what I gathered from the blog, Dylan’s ‘heat’ because he throws hard and he kind of blows away the batters,” Maher said. “I guess I’m ‘sweet’ because I’m more of a crafty-type pitcher, and I don’t tend to blow by people.”

Though they are a strong one-two punch for St. Thomas, Maher and Thomas grew up as high school and junior college rivals. Now that they are together at St. Thomas, the two have put their rivalry aside and are focused on helping each other improve their game.

“We’re here together, and we’re doing so well this year,” Thomas said. “It’s helping us to not compete against each other but really help each other because we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Nick McAndrews can be reached at mcan1933@stthomas.edu.