Keystone College men’s baseball overcame an eight-run deficit to help coach Jamie Shevchik register his 800th career victory May 1 when the United East Conference playoffs opened.
The Giants swept Penn State Brandywine 10-8 and 10-4 to reach the conference final four, double-elimination portion of the postseason that they will host May 8-10 at Christy Mathewson Field.
After going 14-0 in the United East regular season, Keystone found itself in deep trouble in the opener of a doubleheader to begin the best-of-three quarterfinal series.
Penn State Brandywine led 8-0 going into the eighth inning.
The Giants rallied with 10 runs in the inning.
Colson Bennett’s two-run single to pull Keystone within 8-7 was the biggest of just four hits in the game by the Giants.
Keystone got its offense started much sooner in the second game.
Benny Hess and Dante Ruby started the game with hits, and both scored on a Jonathan Santiago single.
Santiago also doubled and finished with five RBI.
Ray Moreta doubled, tripled and drove in two runs. Hess added a double and scored three runs.
Keystone takes a 28-10 overall record into the final weekend of the tournament against Lancaster Bible, Penn State Harrisburg and Penn State Abington.
Shevchik is in his 25th season as head coach at Keystone and is seeking the program’s 18th straight conference title and the NCAA Division III Tournament appearance that would go with it.
Ruby leads the offense with a .425 batting average, 55 runs scored, 14 doubles and five home runs.
Women’s basketball
Shania Iglesias has been named as the new head coach.
This will be the first head coaching job for the former player and assistant coach at SUNY Oswego.
The Giants are coming off a 4-20 season.
Track and field
Keystone freshman, Ayzeem Hassan, won the discus title in the United East Conference Championships, which wrapped up May 3.
Hassan won with a throw of 140-3.
The Giants finished seventh in the men’s standings and eighth among women’s teams.
Men’s golf
Keystone announced the return of the men’s golf program for the fall of 2026.
“Golf has a strong history at Keystone, especially under Don Cole,” athletic director Kacy Manning said, according to a story on the school’s athletic website. “Its return is a natural and important step in strengthening our athletics program.”
Justin Stern has been named head coach of the program, which will join others at Keystone in competing in the United East.
Keystone last competed in golf in the 2018-19 season.
Softball
Keystone finished 3-13 in the United East and 5-21 overall.
