Mt. Lebanon ace has team in World Series

Kitchen helps CCU
Austin Kitchen of Mt. Lebanon is a member of the pitching staff that has helped Coastal Carolina University reach the finals in the NCAA Division I College World Series.
The championships were being held this week (June 27-29) at Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. It was a best-of-three series between the Chanticleers (53-17) and Arizona.
Heading into the championships, Kitchen owned a 4-0 record with a 3.19 ERA. In 42.1 innings, he struck out 36 batters.
He was named a 2016 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American. He becomes the ninth Chanticleer in program history to be named a freshman All-American and third in the last four seasons.
The southpaw had several notable performances throught the season, including appearances in Coastal’s shutouts versus High Point on April 25 and at Charleston Southern on May 15. The CSU game included a three-inning save for the rookie.
Kitchen has made two appearances since the end of the regular season, seeing action against Radford in the first round of the Big South Championship and North Carolina State in Coastal’s third game of the Raleigh Regional.
Kitchen was The Almanac’s MVP for baseball in 2015. He was tabbed Quad-A Pitcher of the Year and was selected to play in the WPIAL Baseball Coaches Association’s annual all-star game. As a senior, he went 6-1 with a 2.29 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. In 51 innings, he registered a school-record 85 strikeouts.
Last spring, Kitchen guided Lebo to a 15-3 record and 12-0 mark in league play to be the top-ranked team in WPIAL AAAA through the regular season. As a junior, he was 6-1 with 61 strikeouts. He batted .380 while setting a school record with a 1.07 ERA.