Doncaster Dragons pitching ace Luke Westphal continues to dominate opposition hitters and re-write the record books in his debut season in Victorian baseball.

In 13 starting appearances Westphal has struck out 136 hitters in a stunning 74 innings of work and has a miserly ERA of just 0.49 on the back of 4 earned runs.  He is striking out a rather amazing 16.5 hitters per 9 innings.

In context the performance is even more remarkable when Westphal is compared to the rest of the league’s pitchers.  One of the league’s other dominant left handers, ex-professional Adam Bright from Blackburn, is second in strikeouts with 83 in 63.6 innings of work or 11.75 strike outs per 9 innings and a 2.08 ERA.  This trails Westphal’s 136 strikeouts at 16.5 strikeouts per 9 innings and 0.49 ERA.  Westphal’s 0.49 ERA leads the league in ERA among starting pitchers and he is second in total innings pitched with 74 (the leader has 75).

Westphal played high school baseball in Clintonville Wisconsin, which is his home town then went on to play college baseball for 4 years at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.  After college Luke signed with independent Frontier League club the Gateway Grizzlies in St. Louis Missouri and has been playing as a reliever with them for the past 2 years.  He was recently traded to the Chicago-based Joliet Slammers, also in the Frontier League, where he is slated to join the starting rotation.

Has any pitcher ever struck out 150 hitters in a single season in Victorian baseball? Westphal should exceed this mark as he is likely to make a further 5 scheduled starts with 6 regular season games remaining.  Get down and see the dominant Doncaster Dragons starting ace in action before season-end.

Season statistics to date for Dragons starter Luke Westphal are as follows: