St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) baseball pitcher Dylan Stewart had a unique way of celebrating his college commitment last week.

Stewart, a senior, announced he would commit to play baseball at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. He made the announcement on his Instagram page on Tuesday, March 15.

“Very excited to announce my commitment to the University of Pepperdine!!! Go Waves!” wrote Stewart in the caption. Three days after the announcement, Stewart set a SJND school record when he struck out 18 batters against Redwood Christian of San Lorenzo in the Pilots’ 4-0 road victory on Friday, March 18.

The right-hander pitched a seven-inning complete game. He allowed just three hits and gave up no walks in the contest.

“Dylan was on a mission on Friday night,” said SJND varsity coach Mark Castillo in a statement. “It was the best pitching performance in the 15 years I’ve been involved with SJND baseball. What made it even more impressive is he walked no one and hit no one. He faced three batters over the minimum. Of the 21 outs possible, 18 were by strikeout.”

Stewart’s performance left many mesmerized.

“What stands out [about the 18K performance] is that it is a really difficult thing to do, but when you watch those pitches and how they were moving on that day with his [velocity], it’s understandable.” added Josh Hammer, SJND varsity pitching coach. “Dylan’s large quantity of strikeouts are accredited to his hard work and preparation from the offseason leading up to now.”

In the game, the Pilot offense gave Stewart a comfortable lead before he even took the mound. They scored three runs in the top of the first inning. They added a run in the fourth inning. Junior Tommy Cooke went 1-for-2 from the plate and drove in two runs.

The Pilots are 3-3 in the early portion of the season. According to maxpreps.com, the 6’ 3” Stewart has allowed just three earned runs in 14.2 innings pitched this season for a 1.43 earned run average. He has given up 11 hits and struck out 28 batters.

Last year as a junior in 2021, Stewart had 41 strikeouts in 29.2 innings. Opposing batters had a .198 batting average against him. The Pilots’ 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pepperdine Waves baseball team competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and in the West Coast Conference. The Waves baseball team is coached by Rick Hirtensteiner, who is in his seventh season. Last year the team went 20-25 overall. Stewart will be joining a team looking to regain its position as a national power. The team has been to the College World Series twice and won it in 1992. The team went to the NCAA Super Regional in 2014.