Freshman Eastin McBroom’s complete game shutout pitches Newark to Little Ten title: ‘He’s a quiet monster’

SOMONAUK – Eastin McBroom is a young man of few words in an interview.

He’s just as efficient on the mound.

Newark’s freshman right-hander has thrown first-pitch strikes to 74% of batters he’s faced this season. He’s walked just six batters over 46 innings.

“He’s been an absolute workhorse for us, our ace, our guy to rely on when we need him,” Newark coach Josh Cooper said. “He shows a tremendous amount of humility, but he’s confident in what he does. He’s a quiet monster.”

McBroom delivered more of the same Tuesday in his biggest start of the season.

He struck out seven in a complete game seven-hit shutout as visiting Newark beat Somonauk 5-0 to clinch at least a share of the Little Ten Conference championship.

“Speechless,” McBroom said.

McBroom had runners in scoring position against him in six of seven innings, but never seemed flustered with poise beyond his years.

Somonauk loaded the bases on him in the first inning, but McBroom got an inning-ending strikeout. With runners on first and third and one out in the fourth, he struck out the next two batters in a tidy six pitches.

“Just had to lock in to my team, perform and keep them in this game,” McBroom said. “I don’t really think about the last batter. I just focus on the next one.”

McBroom also wasn’t fazed by three errors behind him that extended three of the six innings.

“Calm, cool and collected,” Cooper said. “That’s how he went about his business. Something we preach to our guys is you have to move on. He picked himself up, along with our infielders.”

Cooper has seen it all year from McBroom, who is now 6-0 with a 0.457 ERA and 70 strikeouts over 46 innings with just the six walks.

With a fastball with some zip and a slider and curve that McBroom can locate for strikes, he comes at batters. He threw 89 pitches Tuesday, 67 for strikes. McBroom threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 31 batters he faced, including the last 20.

“That’s what we preach to our guys is to get ahead early, and he does it better than anybody else,” Cooper said. “He goes out to attack guys and it’s not always with his fastball. He attacks guys with his offspeed. He can throw that offspeed for strikes, which is a game-changer for a young athlete.”

It all comes naturally to McBroom, who said he’s been playing baseball for 11 years.

“Started in T-ball, and then 8U went to travel,” McBroom said. “Been there my whole life. Doing weightlifting, pitching workouts.”

Newark (12-17, 10-1) provided McBroom with an early cushion to work with, scoring three runs in the first without the benefit of a hit and two more in the third.

Landon Begovac walked to lead off the game and came around to score on a Jackson Walker sacrifice fly. A second run scored on a throwing error on an infield grounder and a third on two consecutive balk calls that were still sitting with Somonauk coach Troy Felton afterward.

“That balk that was called took the wind out of our sails right away,” Felton said. “And something that wasn’t a balk. There was time that was called. I think our heads went down after that.”

Toby Steffen was hit by a pitch to lead off the Newark third and scored on another throwing error and David Ulrich singled in Walker with the fifth run.

Aldo Resendez came on in relief for Somonauk (11-11, 8-3) after Ulrich’s single and threw four shutout innings.

“I think his ERA was 0.73 coming in to today,” Felton said. “A guy that comes in and shuts things down when we need it.”

But there was nothing doing against McBroom, who Felton anticipates seeing again May 22 in a regional semifinal.

Losing pitcher Landon Johnson and Noah Brandt each had two hits for Somonauk, as did Kiptyn Bleuer for Newark, which can lock up the outright title by beating Somonauk on Thursday.

“It seemed like [McBroom] had a nice little fastball and a curveball that would move; trying to get the guys to sit back on it and drive it to right field was the problem,” Felton said. “We need to work on sitting back on the curveball.”