Nebraska's Top 10 pitching Triple Crown contenders

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Sometimes a little luck goes a long way toward producing state championships. Great coaches have been known to mold pretty good baseball teams into champions as well.

But nothing beats talent.

As the Nebraska state baseball tournament came to a conclusion a couple of weeks ago, MaxPreps began taking a look at which Nebraska prep pitchers made the year's strongest run toward the Triple Crown (leading the state in earned run average, wins and strikeouts).

After running through the numbers on MaxPreps' statistics database last week we discovered that nine different baseball programs placed at least one pitcher at or near the top of the list. Norris, however, stood out after placing three athletes on this week's list. As the result of a pair of ties, 11 athletes made their mark on the Top 10 this week.

Class B runner-up Norris landed Zach Argo and Jamie Young in this week's No. 3 and No. 4 spots, while Titan teammate Thomas Sullivan tied Elkhorn's Joe Roecker for the No. 10 spot.

Kyle Perry of Millard South did not achieve the Triple Crown this spring, but he did come awful close. The junior hurler was the Cornhusker State's leader in wins with 10, finished second with 90 strikeouts and posted a 0.47 earned run average, third best in Nebraska.

In order to be considered for this week's Top 10, a baseball player had to make the Top 50 in at least one of the three categories according to MaxPreps' statistics database. Then, after we logged each of the 97 athlete's numbers in each category, a point system was used to calculate the Top 10.


1. Kyle Perry, Millard South (Omaha), Jr. — P
0.47 earned run average, 10 wins, 90 strikeouts

2. Jacob Garder, Blair, Sr. — LHP, OF
0.48 ERA, 6 wins, 69 strikeouts

3. Zach Argo, Norris (Firth), Jr. — P
1.53 ERA, 8 wins, 75 strikeouts

4. Jamie Young, Norris (Firth), Sr. — P
1.33 ERA, 4 wins, 67 strikeouts

5. Brandon Anderson, Skutt Catholic (Omaha), Sr. — P, 1B
1.78 ERA, 6 wins, 55 strikeouts

6. Cam Taylor, Bellevue West, Sr. — LHP
0.91 ERA, 3 wins, 97 strikeouts

7. Colby Gomes, Millard West (Omaha), Jr. — RHP, SS, 3B
1.56 ERA, 5 wins, 42 strikeouts

8. Joe Richter, Lincoln Northeast, Jr. — P
0.72 ERA, 3 wins, 47 strikeouts

9. Joe Stegman, Omaha Westside, So. — P
2.27 ERA, 8 wins, 53 strikeouts

10. Joe Roecker, Elkhorn, Sr. — RHP, 1B, 3B
2.17 ERA, 4 wins, 65 strikeouts

10. Thomas Sullivan, Norris (Firth), Sr. — P
2.21 ERA, 5 wins, 50 strikeouts