Stephen W. Boskus was the No. 1 pitcher on the most dominant starting pitching staff in program history.
A six-foot, 185-pound left-handed pitcher, Boskus in 1990 became the second pitcher in program history to win as many as nine games in a season without a loss, pitching into the ninth inning of regional and national tournament-opening victories that season as the Warriors ran the table in seven NCAA Division III post-season tournament games en route to their second national championship.
After spending seasons at Florida Southern College and Quinsigamond CC, Boskus appeared in 23 games in two seasons at Eastern, winning 13 of 16 decisions with two saves in 132 1/3 innings, with seven complete games in 19 starts and averaging 8.3 strikeouts. In both seasons, he led the staff in strikeouts. As a senior, he was named second-team ABCA Division III All-America, first-team All-Northeast Region and NEIBA All-New England, and pitched in the New England All-Star Game at Fenway Park.
As a senior in 1990, Boskus threw a no-hitter in his first northern start, fanning seven in the 6-0 seven-inning shutout at St. Joseph’s College (ME) which allowed the Warriors to salvage a win in a four-game set in Maine. Starting with that victory, Eastern won 26 of its final 28 regular-season game, going undefeated in New England over that span. After ending the team’s three-game losing streak in Maine with the no-hitter against St. Joseph’s April 8, Boskus twice followed the team’s only ensuing losses the rest of the season with wins: a complete-game three-hitter with a career-high 13 strikeouts and only two walks against Wesleyan University at home on April 18 (the fourth of four straight complete games) and a four-hitter over five innings May 2 at Trinity College. That year, Boskus averaged 7+ innings in his ten starts, failing to pitch into the sixth inning only twice.
The only left-handed pitcher on the staff, Boskus also set the tone in both the regional and national tournament openers in 1990, pitching within an out of complete games in each. In the final year of the Northeast Regional tournament (before New England was given its own region), Boskus won his eighth game in as many decisions with an eight-hitter against Ithaca College (NY). Boskus fanned six and walked only one in a 5-3 triumph. A week later, he followed with another eight-hitter in the national tournament opener against CSU-San Bernardino in Eastern’s 8-4 victory.
Led by Boskus in seven post-season tournament games that year, Eastern’s starting pitchers averaged seven innings per start and were credited with six wins, with Boskus and fellow starters Norm Worthington, Rusty Greene and Chris Kebalka each winning one game apiece in the national tournament.
“On a staff of four No. 1 pitchers, Steve was 1-A,” recalls Kebalka, a right-hander who pitched a complete-game four-hitter in the 8-1 national title game win over Aurora University. “Steve was the ace of the aces. He set the tone in the weight room, he set the tone when we ran, he set the tone for all of us with his desire and determination.”
The Warriors did not lose a game once the month of May rolled around that year, completing the season with 18 consecutive wins – currently the second-longest winning streak in program history. The Big 4 starters won 13 of those games as the team won 40 games for the first time (against six losses) and recorded the second-best winning percentage (87.0) in program history.
Since 1990, only two pitchers at Eastern have recorded more than Boskus’ five complete games and since 1990, no staff has amassed more than that staff’s 13 complete games.
In his first season at Eastern in 1989, Boskus was second on the staff with nine starts and was one of three pitchers on the staff to pitch as many as 50 innings. After he lost his first two starts in Hawaii on the team’s 1-7 trip to the island, Boskus was 4-1 upon returning north, beating eventual regional champion University of Southern Maine in his home debut. In the third round of the regional tournament, Boskus eliminated defending national champion Ithaca College with a complete-game six-hitter, striking out ten.
Boskus wrapped up his collegiate career at the New England College All-Star Game on June 1, 1990, pitching a scoreless fourth inning and finishing with a flourish by striking out two-time All-Big East second baseman Brian Kelley of Boston College and two-time All-America outfielder Mark Sweeney of the University of Maine.
