Stanford Cardinal Athletics

It won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who saw him pitch while in high school, but Nick Dugan is quickly establishing himself as the Stanford Cardinal ace.

The 2022 St. Bernard’s graduate, who led the Crusaders to a NorCal championship in his senior season in high school, has gotten the new college season off to a flying start.

The sophomore has started three games for the 6-5 Cardinal and is 3-0, accounting for half of his team’s wins so far.

He has an ERA of 4.50 with 17 strikeouts in 16 innings in victories over Cal State Fullerton, Penn State and Rice.

Last year, in his first season with the Cardinal, Dugan and his teammates made it to the College World Series.

Dugan was phenomenal as a senior in high school and cemented his legacy at St. Bernard’s with legendary performance in the NorCal championship game when he led the Crusaders to a 7-6 win over Alpha Charter, taking over in relief and striking out all 13 batters he faced in the come-from-behind victory.

During his high school days he was one of the top pitching prospects in all of California.

In his most recent start for Stanford on Sunday, Dugan led the Cardinal to a 4-3 win over Rice.

He threw 5.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits and three walks, while striking out seven.

The Cardinal play a three-game series at Washington this weekend.