The Keystone College baseball program has set standards for itself that, though difficult, have been maintained for more than a decade.
When a spring trip to Florida for the first set of games, then the entire season were cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic, one impressive Giants streak was placed on hold and another must now include an asterisk.
The ultimate resumption of college baseball will give Keystone College a chance to extend its streak of consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Tournament appearances to 13.
The Giants played in every national tournament from 2008 through 2019 and none will be held in 2020 following the cancellation of NCAA competition for the remainder of the academic year.
The LaPlume school traces its illustrious baseball history all the way back to 19th century when original Baseball Hall of Fame member Christy Mathewson played what was then Keystone Academy, a prep school.
There have been changes along the way, including decades as a junior college. Keystone made three National Junior College Athletic Association Final Four appearances in the 1980s.
The Giants carried a streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons since making the transition to a four-year school and athletic program, and 18 straight under current coach Jamie Shevchik, into the ill-fated 2020 season.
Those streaks will have to be listed as winning records in “full” seasons after the team went 2-4 when it was unable to complete the Florida trip or resume competition after returning home.
Success will remain an expectation when the Giants are able to return to the field.
“I am proud; I’m extremely proud,” said Shevchik, who picked up his 600th career win with the first victory of the season March 9 against RIT. “I’m not going to say we use it as motivation to our players year-in and year-out, but we certainly talk about it to our players.”
As new players come through, they seek to continue the streaks.
“If you’re a 19- or 20-year-old kid, you don’t want to be responsible at this point for that Keystone team that is not going to win or is going to break the streak,” Shevchik said. “Our guys, I think, are motivated by that.
“It’s a lot of pressure on myself, on our coaches and our team.”
Shevchik thought he was coming to grips with the end of the streak in 2017 at PNC Field, the Moosic home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the top farm team of the New York Yankees.
The Giants trailed Immaculata University by four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Colonial States Athletic Conference championship game before rallying to win the title, 6-5, and go on to two NCAA Regional victories.
Keystone had won at least two games in 10 of its 11 national tournament appearances before losing two straight to make an early exit last season.
The highlight for the Giants came with a national runner-up finish in 2016 after also making the NCAA Division III World Series in 2011.
Shevchik was already telling himself in 2017 that the end of the run would lift the pressure and he would just have to start over.
That day, however, has not arrived. The Giants have won 15 straight conference titles.
“There is a lot of pressure on us,” he said. “There are no more headlines when Keystone wins another conference championship.
“The next headline is going to be Keystone loses their first championship in 16 years or 17 or more years. That’s a tough burden to carry around with you.
“ … We don’t want that time to come.”
