NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Freshman Andrew Thome (St. Cloud, Minn.) threw his second straight shutout in a 5-0 victory over NYIT on Friday and that effort earned him his second consecutive Great West Pitcher of the Week honors, which were announced by league officials on Tuesday. For Thome, the honor was his league-leading third of the season.
Thome’s shutout was his second in back-to-back Great West starts as he became the first freshman in Division I baseball this season to toss a pair of nine-inning shutouts. The right-hander was perfect through five innings, while only yielding three hits and fanning a career-high 11 batters in the contest.
The Bears only got three balls out of the infield on two base hits and one fly out. Thome, who did not walk a batter in the game, fanned Sebastian Grazziani for the final out to set UND's Division I record for strikeouts in a game and become just the eighth Sioux hurler to toss two shutouts in a season.
Thome improved to 3-1 at Kraft Field this season where he has struck out 24 batters, walked only two and not allowed an earned run in 27.2 innings of work.
The Fighting Sioux have one remaining GWC series at Kraft Field this season against Houston Baptist this weekend. Game one is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start on Friday.
– UND –
