Penn College to Face Penn State Delaware County for Baseball Crown

Published 04.28.2006

News
Athletics

"We're ready to go."

Those were the words of Rees Daneker, Pennsylvania College of Technology baseball coach, as his team prepared this week to play for the Penn State University Athletic Conference championship.

Penn College, 30-11 overall, will face Penn State Delaware County (23-7) in a best-of-three game series. Games at Shaner Field, near Boalsburg, are scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday. If a third game is needed to decide the title, it will be played Sunday at noon at the same site.

"We're going to play our game and they're going to have to beat us," the West Division champ coach said of his East Division counterpart. Earlier this month, the teams split a doubleheader at Bowman Field, with Penn State Delaware taking the first game 9-2 and Penn College winning the second 12-2.

Of the seven Penn College players with at least 60 at-bats this spring, all are hitting over .300. Phil Woodring (Waynesboro) leads the way with a 533 batting average. Following are Mike Daciw (Sun Valley) at .483, Devon Liquori (Hawley) at .429, James Woodring (Waynesboro), Phil's twin brother, at 419, Ryan Eshleman (Penn Manor) at .350, Matt Francis (Williamsport) at 324 and Cody Lytle (Warrior Run) at .313. Francis leads the team with 25 runs batted in and Liquori is close behind with 23 RBI, according to statistics provided by Doug Sponseller.

Daneker said Jordan Staib (Williamsport) probably will start the first game of the championship series. Circumstances will dictate who gets the nod for the second game, but, if a third game is necessary, he expects to go with Austin Upright (Montoursville).

Staib is 4-0 on the season with a 2.95 earned run average and Upright is 3-2 with a 2.80 ERA.

Commenting on the championship series earlier in the week, Daneker said, "Our game is just hard-nosed baseball. These guys come out and hit; they do it all, they do it all. When their mind is set, nobody is going to beat them."

"These kids want it (the title) and they deserve it because they've worked for a year," he continued. "It's been an exciting year. These guys are just absolutely unbelievable. They keep surprising you every day."