The first quality Zach Muckenhirn exudes is how humble he is.

But don’t let that fool you.

The young freshman pitcher on the UND baseball team has a level of confidence not many pitchers possess this early into their college careers.

“I feel that on any given at-bat, I can beat that person, be better than that person,” Muckenhirn said. “I just want to do absolutely everything I can to help our team get that W.”

Muckenhirn grew up in Delano, Minn., playing baseball through his early years, like many kids do. He pitched for the varsity team in high school for three years — dominating high schoolers with his expert pitches.

During his senior year, Muckenhirn was invited to play with the Minnesota Blizzard, a prestigious baseball academy in the Twin Cities for the top baseball prospects in the state.

After his high school days were over, Muckenhirn had to pick the college where he would continue his career. That’s when UND came calling.

“They were one of the first bigger schools to contact me … and then I came on my visit,” Muckenhirn said. “I really liked the campus … The coaching staff was really fun to be around, and it seemed like they really knew what they wanted to do and what they wanted to become as far as a program. It just seemed like a good environment to come and play in.”

Muckenhirn chose to put on a green and white jersey.

When he first came to North Dakota as a freshman, he had the desire to be part of the team, but he didn’t have the idea he would become an essential piece to the pitching rotation.

“In the beginning, earlier in the year, when I had talks with the coaches, we talked about the possibility of me being somewhere in the rotation,” Muckenhirn said. “Best case scenario, being the fourth man, a midweek starter, once in a while. But more than anything, I was just hoping to get some relief innings in.”

All it took was a start against Central Arkansas on March 1, and the coaches knew they wanted more from Muckenhirn than just relief innings. Muckenhirn pitched for 6.1 strong innings while only giving up four hits and no earned runs — striking out six batters.

“The first few times out, it went surprisingly well for me,” he said. “It was really encouraging and exciting.”

While his win-lose record sits at 1-2, Muckenhirn has been one of UND’s best pitchers in the first half of the season. In the six games he has started this year, Muckenhirn has only let up 13 runs off of 30 hits. His ERA of 3.51 is solid, and he is leading the team in strikeouts at 33.

Even though he has had a good start to the season, Muckenhirn knows he needs to continue to improve to help this team.

“The last few times out, I’ve struggled a little bit,” he said.  “At no point did I feel that it was because I was overmatched or anything. I thought, ‘you know what, every once in a while somebody’s going to struggle and you’re going to find a slump’ … I just have to push through it.

“I would say the season has been mildly successful, but I definitely have higher expectations of myself.”

Muckenhirn is confident in his abilities and knows he can only get better. While the coaches at UND may have not known it when he signed on, they have found their pitcher.

The freshman does want to  improve and put up numbers, but he is not doing it for himself — the team always comes first in Muckenhirn’s mind.

“The goal for myself is that every single time I go out and pitch, when I leave the game, I want my team to be in a better position to win then when I came into the game,” he said.