Millbrae native Jack Thomson among Lewis & Clark elite

So, the Millbrae native out of St. Ignatius — already having cemented himself as one of the best power hitters in the history of the Pioneers baseball program — will continue his mission of helping put Lewis & Clark on the map as one of the team’s core veterans.

“There will be a few old guys on the team,” Thomson said.

Thomson isn’t even the old man of the group. Switch-hitting utility infielder Jacob Serafini, the Pioneers’ most tenured player, is slated to return in 2023 for his sixth year in the program, while outfielder Dylan Moore, like Thomson, is looking forward to his fifth.

For Thomson, though, the 2023 season gives him a shot at more program history. The left-handed hitting slugger hit 14 home runs this season, falling one homer shy of the single-season program record of 15 set by Chris Dutton in 1987. Thomson now has 26 career home runs, putting him in range of the Lewis & Clark career record of 39, set by Bill Fellows from 1984-87.

Not that Thomson is necessarily paying attention to the numbers.

“No, I actually didn’t check my stats all year until after the season,” Thomson said, “because in the previous season I kind of got caught up in my stats. … So, it just allowed me to play.”

The results are hard to argue with.

As the Northwest Conference’s home run king and batting champion this year with a single-season program record .450 average, Thomson claimed two legs of the conference triple crown. His 41 RBIs were second only to Pacific University’s Ryan Krout with 53.

With this, Thomson was named a second-team All-American third baseman by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Not a total shocker, though it is in Lewis & Clark circles, as the program hadn’t had an ABCA All-American selection in 30 years, when the Pioneers had two honorable mentions. The last time the program had as high as a second-team selection was in 1977.

“Still, pretty surprising and pretty surreal to see my name on the list,” Thomson said.

Lewis & Clark was a mashing team top to bottom this season, Hitting .290 as a team, the Pioneers set a program record with 86 doubles, with Thomson setting the single-season individual record with 20.

The potent offense only resulted in a middling record. Lewis & Clark finished with a 20-17 record, including an 11-13 mark in conference play, settling for seventh place in the Northwest standings. And while there are plenty of blowout scores in the Pioneers’ win column, they earned a 6-1 record in one-run games, with Thomson consistently in the power mix in those close outcomes.

Still, the Pioneers are moving in the right direction under fifth-year manager Matt Kosderka. That middling record translates to a huge moral victory as Lewis & Clark, at 20-17, posted the program’s best record since 1995.

“At the same time, we kind of had to look back at the success we had and how far we’ve come as a program the last two years and kind of be proud of that,” Thomson said. “But also, not to be satisfied with that.”

Thomson said he’d be satisfied to lead Lewis & Clark to the postseason for the first time in his lifetime.

“Our goal was just to turn this into a winning program … and create a culture of winning,” Thomson said. “It’s kind of nice four years later to see the progress and to see how far we’ve come. And that’s a credit to the coaching.”