Dominating Derek
Derek Boben has stuff.
Electric stuff. Filthy stuff. Stuff that makes batters flail. Stuff that makes hitters pound the ball into the dirt for easy ground outs or sky the ball in the air for cans of corn.
Even when Boben, a junior pitcher for the Moniteau baseball team, doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s still nearly unhittable.
“All of his pitches have improved,” said Moniteau senior catcher Austin Blauser, who has been behind the plate for Boben’s starts for two years. “His fastball has more life. His curveball has more break. His changeup has more movement. He just improved a lot and had a really good offseason. It’s really nice to have him because he’s really been taking off this year.”
Boben didn’t give up his first run this season until the sixth inning of a 4-2 win over Karns City at Kelly Automotive Park Tuesday. That broke a 30-inning scoreless streak for the right-hander.
He is now 6-0 with a 0.44 ERA in 2015. He has given up just 16 hits in 32 innings of work and has struck out 48 to go with only nine walks.
And his ERA is actually up from last season when he sported a 0.23 ERA in 31 innings.
In nearly two complete seasons, Boben is 10-0 with a 0.33 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 63 innings.
Dominating stuff.
“Derek is a very mature kid and he knows how to throw strikes,” said Moniteau coach Ross Martin. “(Against Karns City Tuesday) he probably wasn’t as sharp as what he’s been most of the year. But he stayed mentally tough and fought through it.”
Boben has been itching for more work and he’s been getting it this season for the streaking Warriors, who are now 14-2, Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference champions and the No. 1 seed in the District 9 Class AA playoffs, which begin Wednesday.
Boben especially wanted the ball against rival Karns City.
“It means everything to me,” Boben said. “It means they have confidence in me to give me the ball and get the job done.”
Boben has been getting the job done when called on for the bulk of the last two seasons with a fastball and curveball combination that has kept the opposition guessing.
He’s thrown in a changeup from time to time this season as well.
“We have other pitches in the making,” Boben said. “If I’m feeling up to it, I feel like I can just throw my fastball by people, but when I need an out-pitch, it’s the curveball.”
Boben, though, admitted he’s a flame-thrower at heart.
“I like to think I’m a power pitcher,” Boben said. “I like getting a lot of strikeouts. But when I don’t have my best stuff, I know I can rely on my defense. They have been outstanding this season. It makes pitching a lot easier when you don’t have to worry about when a ball is put into play.”
It makes winning a lot easier, too, when there’s a pitcher with Boben’s stuff on the hill.
Moniteau — and Boben’s — goals are simple: win the District 9 title, where they lost to Karns City last season.
“It was a real disappointing loss to Karns City up at Clarion-Limestone last season. It hurt,” Boben said. “We feel like we have the team this year that we can beat anybody.”
