The Penn State Wilkes-Barre 2019 championship-winning baseball team. Left to right, standing: Head Coach Mike Tierney, Assistant Coach James Crossley, Jackson Shaver, Zach Conway, Tanner Williams, Zach Sott, Jordan Choman, Brian Hardiman, Sean Paul Williamson, Chancellor Dale Jones and Athletic Director Scott Miner. Left to right, kneeling: John Fagotti, Robb McClay, Michael Sikora, David Staskiel, Leroy Fettig and Brandon Hardiman.
LEHMAN, Pa. – The Penn State Wilkes-Barre baseball team won its first regular season championship of any kind since 2000 by finishing 12-3 in the PSUAC East Division and earning the No. 1 seed in the PSUAC conference playoffs. The team, led by third-year Head Coach Mike Tierney, is loaded with many talented players from the Wyoming Valley.
The starting pitchers were led by Brandon Hardiman (Northwest High School), with a 2.18 ERA in 34 innings, and Jordan Choman (Holy Redeemer High School) with an ERA of 2.91 in 34 innings. Brian Hardiman, Jackson Shaver and Tanner Williams also started multiple games.
Zack Sott (Wyoming Valley West High School) led the offensive attack with a .400 BA and 15 stolen bases, while Tanner Williams (Wyoming Valley West High School) hit .373 with 19 RBI, Sean-Paul Williamson (GAR) hit .338, and Leroy Fettig (Coughlin High School) had 22 RBI to lead the team.
Wilkes-Barre clinched the division with a 5-0 win over Penn State Schuylkill behind five strong innings from Brandon Hardiman and two shutout innings from John Fagotti (Pittston Area High School), earning his second save of the season.
The team will now head to the PSUAC championships beginning May 5 at Showers Field in DuBois. They will face the No. 2 seed from the PSUAC West Division at 10:00 am that day.
