NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament – Granville, Ohio Regional
GAME 1: Penn State Harrisburg vs. No. 13 Denison
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | BRACKET | DIGITAL PROGRAM
Friday, May 20 | 11 a.m. | Denison | Big Red Field
For the third consecutive season and fourth time in program history, Penn State Harrisburg will compete in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament. The Lions will face the hosts from nationally-ranked Denison in their first game of regional action on Friday morning, May 20.
LIVE VIDEO
(WATCH) All games will be streamed live and for free. Audio commentary will also be available for select contests.
LIVE STATS
(FOLLOW) Fans can keep up with all the action in real time with live stats.
GOING TO THE REGIONAL
(DIRECTIONS) Price of admission to the Granville Regional are $10 for adults and $6 for children and seniors. Each ticket is good for one day of admission at the tournament. Visitors are encouraged to park at the baseball field but overflow parking will be allowed at the Mitchell Center (Trumbull Aquatics Center parking lot) and a shuttle between the Mitchell Center and the Big Red Baseball Field will be provided if needed. Handicapped parking will be available in the baseball field parking lot on a first come, first served basis.
HOW WE GOT HERE
This spring, Penn State Harrisburg (30-15) put together its third 30-win campaign in the last four seasons, capped with a second straight United East Championship. The Lions defeated Penn State Abington, the nation's top offense, in a best-of-three series last week to secure the conference title and earn an automatic NCAA Tournament berth. The Blue & White had an up-and-down start to the season before finding their groove and reeling off 17 consecutive victories, including a win over No. 14 Shenandoah in late April, as well as victories over regionally-ranked Lebanon Valley and York (Pa.) last month. Penn State Harrisburg won the United East Regular-Season Championship after finishing 19-2 against conference opposition. In non-conference play, the Lions split a two-game series with the defending national champs from No. 7 Salisbury and competed against four other programs that will be in action this weekend in No. 6 Arcadia, No. 10 Rowan, Christopher Newport, and Elizabethtown. According to d3baseball.com, The Blue & White have played the 40th-toughest schedule in the nation and the ninth strongest slate among Region IV teams. So far this season, Penn State Harrisburg has competed against seven programs that secured spots in this year's NCAA Tournament.
HARRISBURG IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Penn State Harrisburg is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and third in a row. The Lions secured automatic berths in each of the past two seasons, as well as in 2013, thanks to winning United East (formerly North Eastern Athletic Conference) Championships. The Blue & White also earned an at-large bid in 2019 after finishing one win shy of a Capital Athletic Conference (now Coast-to-Coast Conference) Championship. All of the program's NCAA Tournament appearances have come under the guidance of 10th-year head coach Ryan Bown. Last spring, Penn State Harrisburg went 1-2 in NCAA action, defeating No. 24 Texas Lutheran before falling to No. 5 Wisconsin-Whitewater and being edged by No. 10 Adrian. The Lions went 1-2 in the tournament in 2019, defeating Alvernia to earn the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory and falling twice to Tufts. In 2013, the Blue & White fell to No. 10 Kean before bowing out against No. 17 Johns Hopkins. Penn State Harrisburg is currently 2-6 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
LAST TIME OUT
After falling to Penn State Abington on the second day of the United East Championship Tournament, Penn State Harrisburg's baseball team needed to take two on Wednesday afternoon, May 11 to win a second straight conference title. That's exactly what the Lions did. Penn State Harrisburg slugged its way to a 23-6 victory in game one before staving off a Penn State Abington rally in a 10-7 win in the United East Championship Game, clinching a third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth for head coach Ryan Bown's squad. Matt Parks was named the United East Championship Tournament most valuable player after slashing .706/.808/1.235 with a 2.043 OPS across five games with a grand slam, four doubles, nine RBI, 11 runs scored, and nine walks.
CONTINUED SUCCESS
This spring, the Lions clinched their second straight regular-season conference title before capturing the third conference championship in program history after also achieving the feat in 2021 and 2013. This season, Penn State Harrisburg reached the 30-win mark for the third time in four years after posting 29 victories and a program-best .763 win percentage during the abbreviated 2021 campaign last spring. Since taking over the reins of the program in 2013, head coach Ryan Bown's teams have amassed 215 total victories with four NCAA Tournament appearances, three conference championships, six all-America honors, four NCAA Statistical Championships, and 15 all-region accolades.
GETTYS EARNS TOP HONORS
Earlier this month, Zach Gettys was named the United East Pitcher of the Year to lead seven Penn State Harrisburg players on the all-conference team. The York, Pa. native ranks 11th in the nation with nine wins this season, 19th in strikeouts per nine innings (13.43), and 24th among Division III pitchers with 94 total strikeouts. Gettys and fellow pitchers Drew Harshbarger and Tyler Stabley earned first-team all-conference honors, as did third baseman Matt Parks and outfielder Dallas Hite. Fellow outfielders Chase Smith and Kevin Lehner were named to the all-conference second team.
THE CAPTAIN'S LAST RIDE
Penn State Harrisburg team captain Chase Smith is wrapping up his historically productive career in style this spring. This season, the Martinsburg, Pa. native became just the second player in program history to record 200 career hits (228) and score 200 career runs (223). He is the program's all-time leader in hit by pitches (74) and triples (12) and he ranks second all-time behind former standout Bret Williams in home runs (22), RBI (136), doubles (40), and walks (105). His hit-by-pitch total also ranks sixth in Division III history, while his runs total ranks him 10th all-time among Division III players.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
As a team, Penn State Harrisburg ranks among the top programs in Division III in numerous statistical categories. The offense ranks top-10 in the nation in walks (fifth - 276), stolen bases (sixth - 122), and runs scored (eighth - 417), as well as top-20 in on-base percentage (13th - .441), hit by pitches (15th - 85), home runs (19th - 52), and scoring (19th - 9.3). The team's pitching staff also ranks 11th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3).
EARLY ACTION
The Lions have outscored opponents 416-252 this season and have been particularly dangerous the first time through the lineup in the early innings of games. This spring, Penn State Harrisburg has outscored its opposition 64-30 in the first inning and 65-13 in the second stanza. The only frame in which the Blue & White don't hold a positive run differential is the fifth, as the team has been narrowly outscored 53-48 in the middle inning.
STACKED REGION
The Granville, Ohio region is one of the toughest in this year's NCAA Tournament. All four teams competing in the region won their respective conference championships and each squad won at least 30 games this spring. No. 13 Denison (33-9) earned hosting duties after winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship for the third year in a row. The Big Red are making their fourth consecutive trip to NCAAs after qualifying for the national tournament for the first time in program history in 2018. No. 7 Salisbury (30-8), the defending national champion, is the region's No. 2 seed after winning a second straight Coast-to-Coast (C2C) Championship. The Seagulls received this year's lone Pool B at-large bid and will be making their 22nd straight appearance in the national tournament - the second-longest streak in Division III. William Paterson (30-13) cruised to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship and will be making its 18th trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers are also receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com National Poll. Offensively, William Paterson (9.9), Salisbury (9.4), and Penn State Harrisburg (9.3) all rank top-20 nationally in scoring, while the Seagulls (2.68) and Denison (3.64) both rank top-20 among Division III pitching staffs in ERA.
LOOKING AHEAD
The regional is double elimination format and a Penn State Harrisburg victory would guarantee them at least one more game. The winner of Friday's contest between the Lions and Denison will play the winner of the Salisbury vs. William Paterson matchup on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with a berth in the regional championship on the line. The game-one loser will take on the loser of Friday's second contest in an elimination game on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can keep up with Penn State Harrisburg Athletics all season long on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook using the handle @pshbgathletics.