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Elmira’s, Asher Varozza, left, keeps an eye on a pitch from Sisters' Sebastian Storch, right, during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Sisters' Sebastian Storch, connects for a base hit, during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Sisters' Sebastian Storch, left, gets energized and congratulated by team mates after scoring a run during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Sisters' Kayl Mock, from left, keeps an eye on the field, as Sebastian Storch, scores a run and is slapped five from Trent Gordon, during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Sisters' Sebastian Storch, bottom, slides safely into second base as Elmira’s, Cole Fowler waits for the ball during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Sisters first baseman Trent Gordon, left, makes a catch and gets out Elmira’s batter Kyler Waldecker, during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

Sisters' Jace Owens hits a single during the Sisters - Elmira boys baseball game at Sisters High Tuesday afternoon. Andy Tullis/The Bulletin

SISTERS – Sebastian Storch has been mowing down batters the past month and is one of the key reasons the Sisters baseball team is considered a threat in the Class 3A field this spring.

Over his past four starts on the mound, the junior right-hander has pitched 22 innings, struck out 40 batters, and has allowed only one earned run. He’s thrown two shutouts, a no-hitter and recently helped the Outlaws win their fifth-straight game, an 8-3 victory over Elmira Tuesday evening during which he struck out eight batters and allowed one earned run in six innings of work.

“He’s been pitching well all season,” said Sisters baseball coach Matt Hilgers. “He’s been keeping hitters off balance, which is the key at this level. He goes up there and competes. He knows it is one-on-one, he wants to get every single batter out. He has that mentality of wanting to win.”

It is the kind of start to the season Storch envisioned coming off a sophomore campaign that landed him on the Mountain Valley Conference’s first team.

“I knew that I was going to get better,” Storch said. “I knew I was going to play hard, but I think I am playing to my expectations.”

Perhaps no performance was more impressive than Storch’s outing against Burns on April 11. The seven other players in the field could have pulled out a lawn chair and finished a bag of sunflower seeds while watching Storch carve up the Highlanders.

Storch did not just throw a no-hitter in the Outlaws’ 10-0 win over a quality Burns team, but he struck out 15 batters. His fielders didn’t even need to bring their gloves. Outside of one Burns batter being walked and another reaching on an error, every batter struck out.

“I just went there hoping to throw strikes,” Storch said. “I was not thinking about how they weren’t getting a hit or they weren’t putting the ball in play.”

“It is a fun atmosphere when something like that happens,” Hilgers said. “We would love for every game to be something fun like that but it doesn’t happen all the time. It is something that we strive to see. We want to see guys working the count, getting ahead on outs, throwing strikes. And he did a really good job that game of doing that. Keeping guys off base and getting outs is something that we preach.”

Through 13 games this season, the Outlaws have proven themselves to be one of 3A’s top teams. Currently Sisters (8-5 overall, 4-0 MVC) is ranked No. 4 in the OSAA rankings and has proven it can compete with some of the state’s toughest teams.

“It is one thing if you can mercy-rule a team ranked like 30th,” Storch said. “But if you lose to a really good team like we’ve done a couple of times, it shows that we aren’t going to give up and that we have some fight.”

In Hilgers’ eyes, the team is still hoping to hit its stride at the right time over the next month of the season.

“I think we have a lot of room for growth,” Hilgers said. “We’ve shown signs of being really good. I think we have done well in practice, but we need to do a better job of carrying that over into games. I think we are going to get there, it is just about peaking at the right time. We don’t want to peak too early, we are hoping we get to that peak when we need to at the end of the year.”

The Outlaws will continue Mountain Valley Conference play on Friday with a doubleheader against Creswell on the road.

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