York College of Pennsylvania’s club baseball team will compete in the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) Division III World Series beginning on May 19 in Butler, Pa.
York College’s team, the #1 seed in their league after a 12-2 season, is set to take on #4 Milwaukee School of Engineering at 4 p.m., with the winner advancing to a 10 a.m. competition on May 20.
President Patrick “PJ” Hanlon, a junior Sport Management major from Hamburg, Pa., joined the student organization with a friend during his first year at York College. “When I first joined, there were a total of six or so guys with the Club, and a few of them were graduating,” he said. “We only had one practice, and it was a throwing session at the grass lawn next to the Manors.”
Since then, the Baseball Club has grown to 35 members. Its executive board includes Hanlon, Sean Foster (junior Sport Management major from Atglen, Pa.) as Vice President, Josh DiEdoardo (junior Sport Management major from Forest Hill, Md.) as Secretary, and Matthew Desoye (junior Cybersecurity Management major from Staten Island, N.Y.) as Treasurer.
The Club does not have a coach, so Hanlon and Foster run practices twice a week as well as coach. Last year, the team competed in the NCBA Division II and finished well under .500, winning only one game. “I knew taking over the Club would be a lot, but I knew we were capable of something great,” Hanlon said. “But this is not what I am most proud of. I am so proud of the group of guys we have, as well as the synergy we have as a team.
“Our guys are friends with each other, and we hangout as a group every day. We have already captured one trophy for winning the region, but we are looking for one more. We are all so fired up to get this chance to play with one another one more time, especially in a World Series.”
