Kuntzendorf did it all for Aurora Christian

Updated: June 23, 2011 7:38PM

No frills, all substance.

That’s what Bobby Kuntzendorf brings to the table day in and day out as a pitcher and a center fielder for Aurora Christian.

The junior lefty doesn’t bring the heat in the 90s, but no one can hit him anyway. He doesn’t make spectacular diving catches manning a key outfield spot, but he can be seen reading pitches, shifting, and then breaking on time to save his teammate’s runs.

At the plate, he didn’t hit everything — but enough that teams didn’t want to pitch to him — with some opponents calling him the Eagles’ best hitter.

That total package is what made Kuntzendorf the 2011 Beacon-News Player of the Year.

“He controls the game,” Lisle coach Pete Meyer said.

Kuntzendorf is a pitcher, first and foremost, and he had a spectacular season with a 9-1 record, 1.26 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 77⅔ innings. An offseason spent conditioning improved his fastball to 87 miles per hour, but it was his uncanny ability to command multiple pitches — in any count — that made him nearly unbeatable.

“He can throw that nice curveball in any point in the count (and) for a strike anytime he wants to,” Meyer said. “It’s such a good pitch for him because he does have good velocity. He changes speeds. He gets a runner on base and he gets into a zone. All of a sudden, you’re not touching him.”

That combination of work ethic and control of the strike zone has led to interest from NCAA Division I programs such as Michigan, Central Michigan, Oakland, Middle Tennessee State, Illinois State, UIC, Illinois and Indiana State.

“His sophomore year he was pretty dominant, but he took another step this year if that’s possible,” Eagles coach Andy Zorger said. “It just seemed like every time out he shut the team down. He did that in every game except one. His ability to get strikeouts in positions with runners on base or in pressure situations he would dig deeper and get that huge out when he needed it.”

With unfailing trust in him on the mound, Zorger trusted Kuntzendorf’s glove enough to have him anchor the outfield as well.

“The thing that sticks out is his arm strength and having the threat of throwing guys out on the basepaths. Not many guys ran on him,” Zorger said. “He gets great jumps on the ball. He’s not the fastest center fielder in world, but he makes up for it with his jumps and knowing where the ball is going to be.”

Then at the plate, he tied for the team lead in home runs with eight while driving in 37 from the left side. He reached base nearly 48 percent of the time and scored 30 runs while hitting in various spots in the lineup.

In an era of specialization where some high school pitchers do nothing else but throw, it was an overall responsibility he embraced.

“When you’re pitching you always want good defense and everybody to hit, so when I’m not pitching I’m sure they expect the same from me,” Kuntzendorf said. “It’s nice to give back to all the guys who give to me when I’m pitching. It’s nice to contribute on the other side. It’s what they’re doing for me.”

Coming off solid sophomore and junior high school campaigns, Kuntzendorf has no plans to rest on success.

His lone blemish on the mound came in a 5-4 sectional final loss to Walther Lutheran in which the Broncos had four hits — all for extra bases, including three solo homers. Heading in to that game, Kuntzendorf had allowed just one home run and three extra-base hits all year.

This came on the heels of an outing against Lisle in the regional final in which he allowed two runs, to that point his largest allowance of the year.

They were the first real pressure games of his career, and though he pitched well enough to win, it was a learning experience and one he plans to improve on.

“I might have done too much, thought about it too much, trying to pick on little things to do rather than just go out there and pitch,” Kuntzendorf said. “Next year I just can’t think about it so much and pitch the way I did the whole season, just pitch my game.”

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