Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – St. Bernard’s Nick Dugan has verbally committed to play for Stanford after graduation in 2022.

The lure of Stanford was just too much to shy away from.

On Monday night, St. Bernard’s sensation Nick Dugan verbally committed to play for the Cardinal after graduation in 2022.

The sophomore pitcher is coming off an outstanding summer season with the Humboldt Eagles, where he has been attracting the attention of several top programs.

Dugan has received scholarship offers from Oregon, Cal, Arizona and Sac State, but verbally committed to Stanford instead, although he won’t be able to sign anything official until after his junior year.

After an impressive freshman campaign with the Crusaders in the spring, the 15-year-old’s game has soared during the summer, when he quickly established himself as one of the go-to arms on a Eagles 19U team that was loaded with top pitching.

“His fastball just took off,” St. Bernard’s and Eagles head coach Matt Tomlin said. “He had a good high school season, and he was probably throwing 84 or 85 MPH, and he had great strikeout stuff for a freshman (two Ks per inning).

“But this summer his fastball jumped from 84 to 90 or 91 and he’s still maturing, he’s only 15.”

Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen, a Ferndale native, was the first to express interest in Dugan after watching him play in a game against Team Australia at Bomber Field in late June, immediately making an offer.

Over the following weeks, several other schools followed suit.

“You can see how special he is,” Tomlin said of Dugan, who some opposing coaches have suggested could be a legitimate top-three-round MLB Draft pick.

In particular, according to Tomlin, the sophomore’s demeanor on the mound is something that separates him from his peers, and that he remains calm and composed no matter what the score or situation is.

“His expression doesn’t change,” the coach said.

Dugan’s improvement between now and graduating from St. Bernard’s will no doubt be helped by continuing to work with Crusaders pitching coach Greg Shanahan, the top pitching coach in the area,

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Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.