Kirchner Earns His Second NSAA Pitcher-of-the-Week Honor
Dakota State’s JD Kirchner earned his second NSAA Baseball Pitcher-of-the-Week honor earlier this week in the final edition of the conference’s baseball players-of-the-week honor.
It was the fifth straight week that a Trojan athlete garnered the league’s weekly honors Kirchner earned his first NSAA Baseball Pitcher-of-the-Week on April 10.
Kirchner had a 2-0 record for the week as the Trojans went 3-3, including a doubleheader home finale sweep over Valley City State on April 24th and taking the first game of the NSAA’s four-game series at No. 5 ranked Bellevue on April 28th.
He earned a victory as he started the game in DSU’s 19-9 seven-inning game one victory on April 24th at Flynn Field. He struck out VCSU’s batters nine times while allowing four runs (three unearned) on five hits.
Kirchner followed up with 8 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in Trojans’ 9-6 15-inning affair in the NSAA’s four-game series opener at Bellevue on April 28th. He did not allow a run and scattered six hits, while striking out BU’s batters 12 times.
Kirchner finished the week with an earned run average of 0.67 with 14.17 K/per 9 innings strikeout ratio (21 total strikeouts) for Dakota State.
He leads the NSAA overall ERA with 1.99 for DSU. He also leads the overall conference with six saves. He produced an impressive 0.62 ERA during the North Star conference, tossing 43 2/3 innings and limited the opponents to six runs (three unearned) on 30 hits. He amassed 54 strikeouts during the league season (11.13 K/per 9 innings).
Kirchner has a 6-0 record with five saves and a complete game in the NSAA season for DSU.
He is an integral member of the Dakota State’s pitching staff that holds the NAIA’s Top 10 in earned run average of 2.68.
The Trojans finished with a 24-4 record in the NSAA contests, despite falling one game shy of clinching the regular-season title to Bellevue last weekend.
Dakota State (34-16 overall record) goes into the NSAA Postseason Tournament as the two-seed, and will play seven-seed Valley City State on Friday at 4pm in the first round of the tournament.
