Kolbie Stellpflug – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Then-sophomore Kolbie Stellpflug pitched a lot in his first season of high school baseball, with his freshman campaign wiped out by COVID-19.

And he didn’t do poorly by a longshot. In eight appearances, he never took a loss, going 4-0 on the season, which ended with a loss in the sectional quarterfinals of the state playoffs.

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But even that kind of season strengthened him, to the point he’s the ace of the staff in 2022, and getting the ball in the first Somerset County Tournament in three years, when his second-ranked Somerville Pioneers (10-7) face 6th-seed Rutgers Prep (12-2) Monday at 4 pm at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast the game live, with pregame set for 3:40 pm. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the action; click here to listen.

This year, Stellpflug is 3-1, with a 3.58 ERA, and pitching well, especially of late. Head coach Chris Banos says he’s been pressing less, focused more on the hitters, and has become a more consistent pitcher in his most recent starts.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Somerville junior pitcher Kolbie Stellpflug:

Every coach at the beginning of every season has expectations as to how his or her team will be, and what parts of the game will need work, and what parts are going to be A-OK.

The Somerville bats will be just fine for the Pioneers’ baseball team. So will the baserunning.

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The 6th-ranked Pioneers sent 31 batters to the plate in the first four innings of a 15-4 Opening Day win over “home team” Immaculata at Diamond Nation in Flemington, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Somerville pitching wasn’t bad either, as junior Kolbie Stellpflug threw five innings of four-hit ball, allowing four runs, though two were unearned, coming on a two-base throwing error in the third. He struck out four, but did walk six on a chilly day where both starters struggled to find control with temps in the low 50s and brisk, gusty winds making it feel much colder.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Stellpflug after the game:

But it was the bats that were in mid-season form, banging out 14 hits to get the Pioneers 15 runs. Senior third baseman Tyler Stone hit a solo home run in the seventh and went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Senior DH Garret Koplitz was 2-for-4 with with two runs scored and an RBI double in the fourth.

Every player in the lineup scored at least one run; six scored twice. And everyone got to hit.

The one through three hitters got to the plate in each of the first four innings. Six men came to bat in the first, seven in the second, eight in the third, and ten in the fourth, before the Pioneers’ went one, two, three in each of the next two innings, then added three more runs in the seventh.

Click below to hear Somerville head coach Chris Banos with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko after the game: