With most of its weekend starting pitching from 2025 gone, the Seton Hill University baseball team went into 2026 looking for arms to emerge.

Luke Deschenes has seized his opportunity for a larger role.

Deschenes, an Emmaus High School graduate, has transitioned from long reliever and spot starter to rotation mainstay as a redshirt junior. The right-hander continued his consistent pitching Friday by limiting Lock Haven to one run over six innings in a 2-1 win. The Griffins went on to sweep their four-game series, extending their PSAC West dominance.

Seton Hill owns a 25-6 overall record and 12-0 PSAC West mark as it nears the midpoint of conference play. Deschenes is 3-0 with a 3.38 in PSAC West games, starting the series opener in all three of the Griffins’ division series so far.

“Just knowing that I was going to take on a larger role this year, it was a bit motivating,” Deschenes said by phone Monday. “That’s something I definitely desired to do — play a bigger role for the team, start a bunch of games. So, it pushed me to work harder and continue all the things I’ve really been doing.

“It gave me a greater sense of responsibility, a little bit more ownership, and the feeling that I could leave a bigger impact on the team.”

Deschenes began preparing for a heavier workload after Seton Hill’s run to a third straight NCAA Division II Atlantic Super Regional last season. He spent time training at Rockland Peak Performance in Paramus, N.J., with a focus on adding velocity and improving mobility. He also pitched in the New England Collegiate Baseball League and the Cape Cod League over the summer.

Deschenes said working on his mental game mattered as much as his physical training. He wanted to prep his mind for the demands of starting and facing a lineup multiple times. He has already thrown 39 innings this season after finishing at 43 1/3 last season.

“He was able to face some higher competition [over the summer], which I think humbled him and gave him a lot of things to learn and work on,” Seton Hill coach Marc Marizzaldi said. “That was a really good experience for him that allowed him to come back here and be a more mature pitcher and maybe move from being a No. 7-8 guy on our staff to a potential No. 1 or 2 guy.

“He wants to be that guy that is counted on,” he added. “He wants to be that Friday night starter, that guy that’s at the top of the rotation. I’ve seen his confidence and maturity just grow exponentially in the last three years.”

With 3½ weeks left in the regular season, Seton Hill is positioning itself for another extended postseason run. The Griffins have come within a win of the NCAA Division II World Series the past three years. Getting over the hump and winning a Super Regional is everyone’s goal.

Deschenes and his teammates plan to stay in the moment as they pursue their long-term goals. That means collecting PSAC West win No. 13 on Friday, with Deschenes likely to start another series opener.

“We’re pitching the ball pretty well,” Deschenes said. “We’re hitting it exceptionally well.

“We very much take things game by game and series by series, but I think we have the chance to put together a pretty special season this year.”

Winning the weekend: DeSales earned a key series win over the weekend, taking two of three games from MAC Freedom Conference preseason favorite Arcadia. DeSales (17-10 overall, 10-2 MAC Freedom) limited the Knights to one run in each of the first two games before falling 11-6 in the series finale.

Bulldogs graduate student Owen Fischl, a Whitehall High product, went 4-for-8 with two runs and two RBIs in the series. He’s hitting a team-best .432 with a 1.073 OPS.

DeSales’ series win gave it sole possession of second place in the MAC Freedom Conference, one game ahead of Arcadia. The Bulldogs play a three-game series with first-place Misericordia (12-0 MAC Freedom) this week, starting with a Friday visit to the Cougars.

Short hops:  East Stroudsburg (18-12 overall, 6-6 PSAC East) is 13-3 at home this season. The Warriors rebounded from their series loss to first-place West Chester by taking three of four from Bloomsburg. … Lafayette freshman Will Dobil (Parkland) clubbed his first two college home runs Saturday, hitting one in both games of a doubleheader loss to Bucknell. He went into Tuesday’s game at Penn with nine RBIs in his last seven games. … Junior outfielder Zachary McElroy (Emmaus) leads Lock Haven with 14 RBIs. He has an .821 OPS.