Fyffe and Koerbel Earn ABCA Rawlings Mid-Atlantic All-Region Honors
The Penn State Behrend baseball program continues to receive accolades after a championship 2008 season.
The ABCA Rawlings Mid-Atlantic All-Region Team was recently released and Behrend sophomore Josh Fyffe (Fredonia/Sharpsville) and junior David Koerbel (Pittsburgh/Central Catholic) earned second-team honors. These two were labeled as preseason College Baseball Players to Watch and both lived up to the billing.
"This is a tremendous honor for Josh and David," said head baseball coach Paul Benim. "These guys had really strong seasons and led our team to an outstanding season. We are thrilled to have them anchoring our program and leading a veteran group again next year."
Fyffe started at shortstop for the blue and white and led the team and AMCC in runs scored with 46, while also leading the team in walks (30) and stolen bases (21). Fyffe, who played exceptional defense behind an AMCC ERA leading pitching staff, also knocked 52 hits while batting .333 and being named to the AMCC All-Conference team. As a freshman, he was named the AMCC's Rookie of the Year and earned Behrend baseball's team MVP award. This marked Fyffe's second straight year on the ABCA Rawlings All-Region squad.
Koerbel, the AMCC MVP and Pitcher of the Year, led the program with a 5-0 record in the AMCC with five complete games and a 1.80 ERA. Overall this spring he was 8-2 this spring with seven complete games in 11 starts. He struck-out 73 hitters in 70 innings and walked only 13. Koerbel continues to etch his name in the Behrend baseball record book by posting the second most wins in a single-season and the second most strike-outs behind former Behrend ace, Chris McCartney.
Behrend posted an impressive 17-1
AMCC regular-season record and were ranked as high as fifth in the NCAA
Mid-Atlantic region polls during the season. In the NCAA Tournament, the
Behrend Lions fell 8-1 to Messiah and 5-3 to Gwenydd-Mercy to finish with a
the second most wins in school history and a 34-12 overall record.