IUP baseball coach Steve Kline guides team to 1st Super Regional

For three seasons, from 1999-2001, left-hander Steve Kline led the National League in appearances, averaging 85 per year with Montreal and St. Louis during that time. In all, Kline pitched in 796 games during an 11-year major-league career. All but once he worked in relief — his lone start came with Cleveland in his first season in 1997, four years after the Indians drafted him in the eighth round out of West Virginia.

Pressure is Kline’s middle name.

“When I was drafted, I started to realize I was as good as, and in some cases felt I was better than, some guys who were really, really good ball players,” said Kline, a product of Lewisburg High School in District 3. “We tend to put people on a pedestal if we think they’re good. But they’re human. And if they’re you’re opponent, you respect them, but you’ve got to want to beat them.”

Three years after IUP athletic director Todd Garzarelli praised Kline after hiring him to lead the Crimson Hawks baseball program, Kline is living up to the accolades. Garzarelli said at the time: “Steve’s baseball acumen, development of players, and community approach is second to none. With Steve at the helm, we are expecting big things from our baseball program for a long time.”

Guess what? It’s happening already for the Crimson Hawks, who were set to play in an NCAA Division II Super Regional for the first time by hosting Seton Hill in a best-of-three series Friday and Saturday at Owen J. Dougherty Field in Indiana.

The series winner advances to the NCAA Division II World Series beginning June 1 in Cary, N.C.

“It’s exciting. Everything new just brings an excitement to this program,” Kline said.

He knows the challenge that awaits his players — Seton Hill has been a perennial Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference contender for years, and the Griffins know a thing or two about NCAA Super Regional play, where they’ll be making their second consecutive appearance.

“The pressure is on them. They’re the juggernaut,” Kline said. “We’re playing on house money.”

IUP is Seton Hill’s only PSAC opponent this year to win a regular-season series against the Griffins. The Crimson Hawks (36-15) enter the Atlantic Super Region series as the fifth seed after winning all three games last week in the Atlantic Region One Tournament at West Chester.

“They played fantastic at West Chester,” Seton Hill coach Marc Marizzaldi said. “We’re certainly familiar with them, but we don’t get too focused on an opponent — of course, we have a scouting report, yes; as a coaching staff, we have to know how to game-plan — but we are more focused on the process and with our goals.”

Seton Hill (40-15) is seeded sixth after winning the Atlantic Region Two Tournament at East Stroudsburg with a 4-1 mark.

Among its regular-season victories is an 11-inning 6-5 decision over top-ranked Tampa on March 4.

“They’re a really good team,” Kline said, “but we don’t get stressed over any of it. We want to play perfect baseball, and our guys have gone out there time and again trying to do it.”

IUP’s pitching staff leads Division II with 12 complete games, five by right-hander Mark Edeburn, a Peters Township graduate.

Five IUP players sport batting averages over .300, led by first baseman Brady Yard’s .345 mark.

IUP’s success adds up to quite a turnaround from a 2-35 season in 2021 during former coach Anthony Rebyanski’s fifth and final year with the program.

“Steve is a big reason why they’re good now,” Marizzaldi said. “He was a hard-nosed player, and he’s a hard-nosed coached. He gets his guys to play hard. He’s a very good baseball man, and the kids have benefited from his knowledge.”

IUP won three of four games against Seton Hill in a series in mid-April at SHU Baseball Complex in Greensburg, outscoring the Griffins, 27-17.

Most of Seton Hill’s 13 seniors have been here before, and Marizzaldi is confident in their experience and togetherness, he said.

One of them, infielder Jack Oberdorf, a Greensburg Salem product, leads the Griffins in hitting with a .345 average. Freshman infielder Owen Mandler (.331), from Upper St. Clair, is not far behind.

Senior Aiden Layton leads the pitching staff with five complete games.

No matter the personal statistics and uniform numbers, both coaches want their teams to come away this season with unique identities.

“We refer to us as ‘Team 21,’ ” Marizzaldi said. “There’s only one ‘Team 21.’ ”

It stands for Marizzaldi’s 21 seasons as Seton Hill’s only baseball coach. During that time, he’s amassed more 700 victories.

Perhaps Kline can reflect on that lofty number the way Marizzaldi might view Kline’s major-league career.

And maybe that’s why this Seton Hill-IUP series will produce a few more eye-opening thrills.

“It’s not about me. It’s about this team. This program. These players,” Kline said. “It’s their time to create their own yearbook.”