WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Pennsylvania College of Technology baseball begins its United East Conference playoff run as the tournament's fourth seed. The Wildcats (11-5 UE and 18-16 overall) will host fifth-seeded Cairn University (11-5, 24-14) at Bowman Field starting at 11 a.m. on Friday, with an "if needed" game starting at noon on Saturday.
Winners of the best-of-three series will advance to a four-team double-elimination tournament on May 9-11, where the conference champion and NCAA Division III qualifier will be determined.
"(During the regular season), we showed some flashes of being a really strong all-around team but had some slipups here and there that hurt us. However, we are still a really young team, and the fact that we came back this year and put together a season to get us back in the postseason with a No. 4 ranking is something that we can be proud of," coach
Chris Howard said.
In the NCAA era that began in 2014 for Penn College, Howard's teams have only missed the playoffs twice — in 2016 and last year — while claiming the championship in 2015 and finishing second in 2017, 2018 and 2023.
"Playoff season is something completely different from the regular season. The teams that are successful in the postseason are the teams that get hot when it counts. I like what our guys have done this season, and I'm looking forward to watching them compete in the postseason," Howard said.
In first-round UE playoff games on Tuesday, No. 10 Penn State Berks (7-10 all UE, 10-27 overall) defeated No. 7 Lancaster Bible College, 10-4, and No. 9 Wilson College defeated No. 8 St. Elizabeth University, 9-5.
That pits Wilson (7-10 all UE, 9-25 overall) at No. 1 Keystone College (15-1, 28-9), Penn State Berks (7-10, 10-27) at No. 2 Penn State Harrisburg (12-4, 29-9-1) and No. 6 Penn State Abington (9-7, 17-18) at No. 3 St. Mary's (Md.) College (11-5, 11-14) in other second-round games.
In United East games, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents 171-117. Penn College has a pitching staff ERA of 6.77 to its opponents' 9.40, it owns a fielding advantage of .968 to .942, and has committed 19 errors to its opponents' 33.
For the season in at least 25 games, sophomore Shawn Townsend of Hatboro leads the offense with a .429 batting average and is followed at the top by senior Nathan Gustkey of Philipsburg (.412), sophomore Dallas Griess of Williamsport (.367), sophomore Jaydon Goebel of Honey Brook (.360), freshman Levi Purnell of Snow Shoe (.343), and sophomore Matt Munoz of Tobyhanna (.340). Townsend leads with 33 RBIs and 13 doubles, Goebel leads with 38 runs scored, Purnell leads with five home runs, and Griess and Munoz lead with three triples each.
Of the pitchers with at least 10 appearances, freshman Dillon Gallagher of Stockton, N.J., has a 4.08 ERA, sophomore Griffin Vollman of Williamsport has a 4.58 ERA, junior Parker White of West Decatur has a 4.70 ERA, junior Ethan Hannevig of Pine Grove has a 6.50 ERA, sophomore Sam Staib of Bloomsburg has a 6.60 ERA, and sophomore Wyatt Hershey of McConnellsburg has an 8.38 ERA. Hannevig is 3-3 and Vollman is 3-2. White leads with two saves. Griffin and Hannevig share the lead with 29 strikeouts each, and Gallagher has 21.
Of its possible playoff opponents, Penn College went 5-3, topping Wilson twice, 8-1 and 6-5; beating Penn State Berks twice, 19-2 and 7-6; splitting with Penn State Abington, losing 16-10 and winning 8-5, and losing to Keystone, 7-3 and 6-3.
"Pitching will determine how far we go this postseason. Our offense has been pretty stellar, but as is every year, if we want to win a championship, our pitching and defense have to be rock solid. The scoring throughout conference play for all the teams seems to be up this year from years past. We have to play confidently and go out there with a nothing-to-lose attitude. The big guys need to step up," Howard said.
