ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend baseball team will head to Madison, New Jersey on Thursday for a three game-series with FDU-Florham for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship beginning on Friday. It will be the first time the Lions participate in the ECAC postseason since 2019 and the 12th trip in program history.
Behrend enters the tournament after losing consecutive games to Mount Aloysius in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship. The Lions entered the tournament as the top seed holding an AMCC mark of 14-2. Despite the loss in the title game, Behrend walked away with a 27-13 overall record, tied for 62nd in NCAA statistics in winning percentage (.675).
Isaac Stouffer (Punxsutawney, PA/Punxsutawney), Jake Deitz (Erie, PA/McDowell) and John Berger (Wexford, PA/Pine-Richland) earned AMCC All-Tournament accolades for their performances in the conference finals. The trio played a key role in the two victories during the weekend as Berger and Stouffer tied for second on the team in hits with six. Stouffer also sent three over the fence in the span of four games making for nine on the year. Dietz collected the game-winning hit to send the Lions to the AMCC Title Game with a knock up the middle to score two in the bottom of the ninth.
On Tuesday, Behrend had nine players named all-conference selections, the most in the AMCC. Zack Bowen (Pittsburgh, PA/Serra Catholic), Zac Bogats (Corapolis, PA/Moon) and Mac Ciocco (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) each clinched the first team. Stouffer, Jeff Zick (Moon, PA/Our Lady of Sacred Heart) and Derrick Shields (Waterford, PA/Fort LeBoeuf) earned a spot on the second team as Thomas Zbezinski (Gibsonia, PA/Pine-Richland), Chase Palmer (Brookeville, PA/Brookeville) and Joe Lang (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) made it as AMCC Third-Team choices.
FDU-Florham finished their season with an 8-13 record in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). The Devils finished sixth in the MAC-Freedom, three games out of a playoff spot. FDU-Florham concluded with an overall record of 20-19 and grabbed a win against common opponent Drew (2-1) on February 19.
The Devils sport a team batting average of .269 with two players above .300. Tommy Moore leads the team at .380 with 11 homeruns and 32 RBIs. Moore registered a slugging percentage of .721 in 39 games having 22 of his 49 hits go for extra bases. The Devils pitching staff sports a 5.36 ERA with their ace being Christian Cappuano sporting a 2.54 in 14 starts. Cappuano logged a 5-4 record this season with a WHIP of 0.97.
The series will begin on Friday with a doubleheader and a game three on Saturday if necessary. Live stat and video links will be posted as they become available.
