Keystone College will head to Denison University in Granville, Ohio, for the regional round of the NCAA Division III baseball tournament and face Penn State-Behrend in its opener Friday. The 64-team field was revealed Monday afternoon.
Denison and Manchester University from Indiana are the other teams in this weekend’s double-elimination event. Game times are to be announced.
After staying close to home for the first round of the NCAA tournament the past two years, head coach Jamie Shevchik doesn’t mind hitting the road this season.
“The last two years, being in the Misericordia regional was great for the local fans to come watch. But when you’re living in your dorm room and traveling 30 minutes down the road, it didn’t feel like a true NCAA regional,” Shevchik said. “You miss out on the bus ride and the team dinners. So I don’t care where it’s at. This feels like you’ve earned a trip to the postseason.”
This is Keystone’s 18th NCAA appearance. It reached the Division III World Series twice — 2011 and 2016, where it finished as national runnerup.
The Giants (35-9) punched their ticket this season by capturing their 20th consecutive conference championship Sunday in the United East final, 6-3, over Penn State-Harrisburg. It is the second straight United East title for Keystone; the first four championships in the streak came in the North East Athletic Conference and the next 14 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference.
“No matter what team we have, nobody wants to be that team that ends whatever we have going for us here,” Shevchik said. “It’s a little bit of a motivating factor to not be known as the team that loses the first championship in almost two decades.”
Offensively, Keystone ranks sixth in Division III in batting average (.347); fifth in hits (529); fourth in runs (446) and runs per game (10.1); and tied for second in stolen bases (149). Only Milwaukee School of Engineering has swiped more bags (201).
“We’re not one-dimensional from an offensive standpoint,” Shevchik said. “Like our hitting coach says, we’re kind of like a Swiss army knife. We can play long ball, small ball; it seems like we’ve found a way to manufacture runs most of the year. If you’re that type of team from an offensive side, you have an opportunity to win a lot of games.
“I tell my guys that good pitching beats good hitting every day. But a diversified offense will beat really good pitching. I think that’s what we have. We have good pitching and we have a good offense that finds ways to create runs.”
Senior catcher Andy Rivas, who was named MVP of the United East tournament, ranks eighth in the nation with a .458 batting average (55 for 120), second in RBIs per game (1.71) and fourth in slugging percentage (.875). He has 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 58 RBIs in 34 games.
Other offensive leaders include seniors Chase Boyle (.423, 52 runs, 33 RBIs), Robert Estrada (.373, 27 RBIs, 29 stolen bases), Nate Ewing (.367, 54 runs, 33 RBIs) and junior Carlos Pascual (.369, 43 RBIs).
“He’s been the catalyst of our offense this year and the leader behind the plate as the catcher,” Shevchik said of Rivas. “The team kind of rolls off his energy. We don’t have a captain — we’re so senior-heavy — but we do feed off Andy as being the focal point.”
On the mound, senior righthander Sean Brennan is tied for ninth in Division III in wins (9-0) with a 2.65 earned-run average and 64 strikeouts in 71.1 innings. Sophomore righty Leam Powell is 7-0 with a 4.24 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 51 innings, while senior righty Quinn Holt is 5-0 with a 3.40 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 45 innings.
Penn State-Behrend (30-9) qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning its second consecutive Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference title. The Lions have won 30 games for the ninth time and first since 2016. Top players include Daniel Boehme (.368, 27 RBIs), Hank Shaffer (.308, 23 RBIs) and Andrew Bredel (8-1, 2.70, 52K, 50IP).
Interestingly, Keystone has faced five Penn State schools this season — Abington, Altoona, Berks, Brandywine and Harrisburg — and gone 9-1.
“We’ve played them in the past,” Shevchik said. “I’m familiar with their coach (Paul Benim), so there is a little bit of history there. Opening up with those guys is going to be fun.”
Winning a sixth straight North Coast Athletic Conference title earned Denison (35-5) a berth in the NCAA tournament. The Big Red are led by sophomore Jack Lutte (.421), who was the NCAC tournament MVP.
Manchester (29-12) is champion of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Spartans are led by Joel Kennedy (.455, 8 HR, 45 RBI), Rocco Haines (2-3, 3.83, 82K, 82.1IP) and Ty Layson (7-1, 4.83, 55K, 78.1IP).
The winner of the four-team regional at Denison advances to the best-of-3 super regional May 23-24 against the winner of the regional that includes Webster University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Belhaven University and Rhodes College. The eight super regional winners then move on to the Division III World Series at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio, on May 30-June 5. Two four-team pools will play double elimination with the two pool winners meeting in the best-of-3 championship series.
Last year, Misericordia University beat Wisconsin-Whitewater for the national title.
As for other teams of note in the tournament:
Despite losing to Keystone in the United East final, Penn State-Harrisburg (31-11-1) received an at-large bid and will host the regional, drawing The College of New Jersey in the opener. Salve Regina University and Keene State are the other teams. Delaware Valley graduate Brendan Henn leads the Lions with a .393 average (59 for 150) with 12 doublesm three triples, six home runs and 45 RBIs.
Catholic University (27-16), which defeated the University of Scranton to capture the Landmark Conference championship, will head to Ohio and face host Mount Union University in the opener. Rowan University and Grove City College are also part of that regional. Wilkes University, which was the regular-season champ in the Landmark, did not receive a bid.
MAC Freedom Conference champ Arcadia University (28-15) heads to Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and gets Centre College from Kentucky.
