Lions Announce 2014 Team Awards

ERIE, Pa. -- The Penn State Behrend baseball team announced their team awards Monday on the heels of the program's fourth ECAC South Tournament Championship, achieved on May 18.

"This spring was a terrific season for the program," said Coach Paul Benim.

"The players pulled together after graduating nine seniors from the 2013 AMCC Championship club, worked hard, had passion for the game and their teammates, and finished with a pile-up on pitcher's mound at home in the ECAC Southern Region Championship. This was a terrific finish for our team, especially our seniors. The individual honors are very well deserved. These guys stepped up and really impacted the team's success."

Alex Margraf (Erie, PA/McDowell) was named team MVP after a spectacular sophomore season that included a .355 batting average with 26 runs batted in. In starting 44 games for the Lions in centerfield, Margraf compiled a fielding percentage of .985 and was a Third-Team All-Conference selection.

The Most Improved Player Award went to Nathan Junk (Cabot, PA/Knoch). Junk led the club in hitting (.367), on-base percentage (.486), and slugging (.494), and his two-run homer vaulted the Behrend to an ECAC Tournament semifinal victory over Bethany on May 17.

Catcher Brian Bohman (Erie, PA/McDowell) was named Rookie of the Year after batting .362 and leading the Lions with two homeruns. In addition, Bohman was an All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) First-Team honoree.

Chad Zurat (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) earned the Most Valuable Pitcher award following a spectacular senior campaign. On the hill he went 8-2, striking out 62 in 63.2 innings pitched, while compiling a 2.54 earned run average. In 150.0 career innings, Zurat achieved the lowest ERA (2.40) of any pitcher in Behrend history and is second on the all-time saves list with 17.

The Golden Glove award went to Ryan Finnegan (Fombell, PA/Riverside). The sophomore, with cheetah-like prowess at third base, hit .333 with a team-leading 10 doubles and 26 runs batted in and was an All-AMCC First-Team selection.

Dante DeSantis (DuBois, PA/DuBois Central Catholic) earned the Leadership and Scholarship Award, capping off a remarkable career with the Lions. He is fifth on the Behrend all-time list in strikeouts (191), fifth in wins (20), and fifth in innings pitched (200.1). In addition, DeSantis compiled a 3.87 grade point average, majoring in finance.

The Spirit and Hustle Award went to Shane Stauffer (Bakerstown, PA/Pine Richland) whose career was derailed by injury. In his final season with the Lions, Stauffer did not allow a run on the hill.