ENID, Okla. — Paul Eyster's path to the National Junior College Athletic Association's Division II World Series has been all over the map, both literally and figuratively.
A sophomore pitcher for Cecil College (Md.), Eyster has come into his own for the Seahawks, bettering all of his numbers this year as Cecil made history. Playing in a regional that included the nation's No. 1 team, Eyster played a huge role in the Seahawks' survival, winning the program's first Region 20 title.
Then Cecil swept a pair of games from Lackawanna College last weekend to win the Northeast District title for the first time, reaching their inaugural World Series.
"At the beginning of the year, if you would have asked me if we were going to the World Series, I probably would have said no," Eyster admitted on Wednesday. "I thought we had a shot to make regions. But now we are playing really good baseball."
The Seahawks, ranked eighth nationally, open the 10-team tournament against Michigan's Kellogg Community College (30-25) on Saturday at noon. The double-elimination event runs through June 4.
One of the biggest reasons for Cecil's success has been Eyster's development in his second season of college ball.
As a freshman, pitching in a dozen games, Eyster went 4-4 with an 4.47 ERA. In 56 1/3 innings, he allowed 65 hits and 25 walks while fanning 37. Fast forward a year and Eyster is one of the aces of the Seahawks' (39-13-1) staff. In 80 innings, he has struck out 99 batters and walked just 17. He has an ERA of 2.81 and is 9-2 on the season.
"Last year I was just kind of getting a taste of college baseball and I struggled," said Eyster, who helped Selinsgrove win the 2009 District 4 title. "I was getting used to better hitters, better competition."
So what's the biggest difference this year? Doing what comes natural to him: challenging hitters.
"My philosophy is to go right at hitters," said the lefthander, who is looking at Temple, Monmouth and Mount Olive as schools to play at next year. "I like to throw a lot of strikes, get ahead in the count and have people hit it to my defense."
The philosophy has worked to the tune of nine wins, including three in the postseason.
Travelling to Enid, Okla., has been as tough on the Seahawks as winning its way to the Series. To get to Enid, a couple of hours west of Tulsa, the Seahawks had to bus from their North East, Md., campus to Philadelphia, fly to St. Louis, then to Little Rock and finally onto Dallas before taking a five-hour bus ride to Enid.
But expectations are high for Cecil, who opens with a Kellogg team that is just five games over .500.
"We have just as good a chance as anyone," Eyster said. "We're here — we're at the World Series — so we expect to win."
College Sports
Related Photos
-
Photo providedCecil College pitcher Paul Eyster, a Selinsgrove graduate, has helped the Seahawks reach the National Junior College Athletic Association's Division II World Series.
Eyster helps Cecil College to World Series
- College Sports
-
- Testing
-
Men's basketball: Balanced Crusaders clinch playoff berth
SELINSGROVE -- Susquehanna controlled its own destiny for the Landmark Conference playoffs, needing to win final three home games to clinch a berth. The first two of those games came this weekend and things couldn't have gone more smoothly for the Crusaders.
-
Bucknell Basketball: Bison pull away late
LEWISBURG -- When teams have built the resumé that the Bucknell University men's squad has, there is no doubt the Bison have to be ready for an opponent's best shot in Patriot League play. "We are going to see everybody's best effort," Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said.
-
Jim Tressel hired at Akron as vice president
AKRON, Ohio -- Through it all, Jim Tressel never lost his charm. As he worked the room the way he did for a decade as Ohio State's coach, delighting students and faculty members, school trustees and Akron's president with stories of past successes and plans for the future, Tressel felt like he had come back home.
-
Buccaneers hire Bucknell grad Schiano as new coach
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Buccaneers are counting on Greg Schiano to lead them back to respectability and transform Tampa Bay into consistent winners -- much in the same way he made Rutgers matter again. The 45-year-old former Scarlet Knights coach -- a 1988 graduate of Bucknell -- was hired Thursday, more than three weeks after the Bucs fired Raheem Morris following a 4-12 finish.
-
College football: Lydic joins Huskies' coaching staff
BLOOMSBURG -- Jack Lydic is going back to Bloomsburg University. Bloomsburg's athletic department has announced several changes to its football coaching staff for the 2012 season. Named as the quarterbacks and receivers coach is former Huskies standout quarterback and Selinsgrove High grad Lydic after having served as the quarterbacks coach at Susquehanna and as the offensive coordinator for the new program at Misericordia.
-
Bucknell Basketball: Bison avoid the trap
LEWISBURG -- Some viewed Saturday night's visit from Holy Cross as possible a trap game for the Bucknell men's basketball team. The Bison were coming off a huge win at Lehigh earlier in the week, and American, which won earlier in the day Saturday, is coming Wednesday with first place in the Patriot League on the line.
-
Women's college basketball: Bison go cold in second half
LEWISBURG -- Bucknell women's basketball led by two at the half, but a slow second period offensively kept the Bison from their first Patriot League victory in a 53-38 loss to Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday night.
-
College sports notebook: Bison lax at draft time
LEWISBURG -- Two key cogs in the Bucknell men's lacrosse team's run to the NCAA tournament last spring were selected in the Major League Lacrosse draft on Friday night.
-
Bucknell basketball: Bison respond to coach's tirade
LEWISBURG -- Dave Paulsen's not a yeller, per se. Oh, he gets a little red in the face from time to time, but rarely do you see the Bucknell men's coach really upset on the floor. Six minutes into Wednesday's Patriot League game against Bucknell, Paulsen was hot and everyone in Sojka Pavilion knew it.
- More College Sports Headlines
