Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – St. Bernard’s pitcher Nick Dugan is enjoying a big season with the Humboldt Eagles and will start on the mound for them in the Area One Tournament opener on Friday.

By Ray Hamill — Young St. Bernard’s standout Nick Dugan will get the start on the mound for the Humboldt Eagles 19U in their opening game at the Area One Tournament in Woodland on Thursday, as the Division-I interest in the pitcher continues to grow.

And that’s good news in more ways than one for the Eagles players.

Despite having not yet even started his sophomore year in high school, the 15-year-old Dugan is enjoying a sensational summer with the Eagles and has already received three scholarship offers from D-I programs, all in the past few weeks.

Oregon made an offer this week and is the most recent school to take interest in the young pitcher, who played in front of a number of scouts at a recent tournament in Fairfield.

Sacramento State, coached by Ferndale native Reggie Christiansen, was the first school to offer  Dugan a full ride, and that was quickly followed with an offer from Cal.

Dugan can not officially accept any athletic scholarship until his junior year in high school, and he can expect a lot more top schools to join the line of suitors.

The St. Bernard’s standout is coming off an impressive debut season at the school, but his game has really taken off during the summer season with the Eagles.

“He’s consistently hitting 90 to 91 miles per hour,” Eagles and St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “It’s amazing how much he’s improved since the high school season. It really is impressive what he’s doing.”

His presence has been good for his teammates in more ways than one.

In addition to his impressive performances giving the team a chance to win every time he takes the mound, the early college interest in his  talents is bringing a lot of scouts to watch the Eagles, and that could put some of his teammates on the map.

The Eagles have an abundance of talent, but it’s not always going to get seen up close and personal here on the North Coast.

At Fairfield, however, the entire Eagles team got to play in front of scouts from every Pac-12 school.

“The Dugan situation has created a lot of positives for our team,” Tomlin said.

That should continue to be the case this week, when the Eagles open against Napa on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.