LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team was voted the sixth-best team in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division by the coaches in their preseason poll, as announced by the conference on Thursday.
Sixth-year head coach Eric Folmar will have his hands full replacing the graduated production from a season ago, including a pair of starting pitchers and two of the team's top five best offensive players. His program welcomes nine freshmen and several redshirt players who missed the 2024 campaign, so the team will look to many of those individuals to shoulder some of the load as they look toward a brighter future.
The Maroon and Gold recorded a 17-33 mark last season, going 10-22 in the PSAC East and 8-11 at North Campus Baseball Field. They managed wins over No. 6 Millersville, No. 15 West Chester and No. 25 East Stroudsburg, and pulled their lone conference series victory against Lock Haven.
Offensively, All-PSAC second-team third baseman Jimmy Kerley (Indian Trail, N.C./Sun Valley) returns for the Golden Bears, alongside junior catcher Michael Burns (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) and sophomore outfielder Bo Barthol (Breinigsville, Pa./Parkland), who all look to repeat their success at the plate from a season ago. Redshirt junior Paul Moretski (Harleysville, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) looks to be the veteran at the head of a new look pitching staff for the upcoming season.
The East Division is led by West Chester and Millersville, who each earned three first-place votes, along with East Stroudsburg, who picked up the remaining two votes. The West is controlled by Indiana (Pa.) and Slippery Rock, the former of whom claimed the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship over Seton Hill in 2024.
The 2025 Baseball season opens with a doubleheader against Slippery Rock at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., on Friday, Feb. 21. The Golden Bears return home to face Lincoln (Pa.) in a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 1, at 12 and 2:30 p.m. at North Campus Baseball Field.
EAST (# of first place votes)
1. West Chester (3)
2. Millersville (3)
3. East Stroudsburg (2)
4. Shippensburg
5. Shepherd
6. Kutztown
7. Bloomsburg
8. Mansfield
WEST (# of first place votes)
1. IUP (4)
2. Slippery Rock (3)
3. Seton Hill (1)
4. California
5. Gannon
6. Pitt-Johnstown
7. Clarion
8. Lock Haven
