![\"Quakertown](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/TMC-L-Pierce-1.jpg\")
Quakertown High School graduate Dennis Pierce leads East Stroudsburg University in home runs this season with 18. (Thomas Herstich photo)<\/p>\nThe East Stroudsburg University baseball team opened its 2025 season on Valentine\u2019s Day at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.<\/p>\n
The Warriors will end their season there after achieving a goal the program has built toward during coach John Kochmansky\u2019s 18-year tenure.<\/p>\n
By winning the Atlantic Super Regional over Seton Hill, ESU secured its first NCAA Division II College World Series berth. The Warriors received the No. 6 seed for the eight-team, double-elimination portion of the tournament, which will take place at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
ESU\u2019s first trip to Cary this season featured a doubleheader sweep of Concord. The Warriors have continued to win since, compiling a 40-14 overall record.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year I\u2019ve been here, we\u2019ve been talking about getting to Cary,\u201d ESU redshirt junior and Liberty High graduate Parker Frey said. \u201cEvery year, our team is good enough to go to Cary. So, that\u2019s always a thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added redshirt senior and Quakertown grad Dennis Pierce: \u201cThe whole season, we talked about starting our season there and then ending it there too. Hopefully now, we can get the big trophy, the big ring, and win the national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frey and Pierce played leading parts in ESU\u2019s Super Regional victory. Frey went 5-for-9 with a double, one run scored and one RBI in the two games against Seton Hill, which the Warriors won 4-1 and 7-3 (11 innings). Pierce delivered the winning runs in the clincher by cracking a full-count, two-out grand slam in the top of the 11th inning, snapping a 3-3 tie.<\/p>\n
While Frey and Pierce have been regulars in the Warriors\u2019 lineup this season, they took different paths to ESU. Frey is in his third year as a starter after taking a redshirt season in 2022. He is hitting .362 with 15 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 46 RBIs and a .541 slugging percentage.<\/p>\n
Pierce is at his third and final college. He started out at another PSAC program, West Chester, before playing at Valdosta State University in Georgia last season. He decided he wanted to return to Pennsylvania and landed on ESU, a school that recruited him in high school.<\/p>\n
Pierce has provided power to ESU\u2019s lineup, smashing a team-high 18 home runs and posting a .768 slugging percentage. He has also scored 51 runs and driven in 63.<\/p>\n
Quakertown High School graduate Dennis Pierce leads East Stroudsburg University in home runs this season with 18. (Thomas Herstich photo)<\/p>\n
Pierce (.369) and Frey (.362) rank 1-2 on ESU in batting average.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at our numbers, they\u2019ve been consistent all year long,\u201d Kochmansky said. \u201cTheir averages have sat right in that range with their consistency and their approach at the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been locked in. Whether losing to Millersville [a four-game sweep to end the regular season] gave us the wake-up call that we needed, we\u2019ve really done a great job at the plate. Then of course on the mound, from the starters giving us those 12-15 outs, and then our bullpen has been spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n
ESU will need another strong effort from its arms to navigate its College World Series opener Friday afternoon against No. 3 seed Lenoir-Rhyne (48-13). The Bears are also making their first College World Series appearance after winning the Southeast Super Regional. Their lineup features five players with at least 10 home runs and three with 20-plus, led by sophomore Mackenzie Wainwright (25).<\/p>\n
Kochmansky said his ESU teams have never played an opponent with the power numbers Lenoir-Rhyne boasts. The Warriors have, however, played plenty of quality opponents en route to the College World Series.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re ready for whatever their final 2025 trip to Cary brings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to keep everything the same,\u201d Kochmansky said. \u201cAs I\u2019m talking to you now, we\u2019ve got four computers going and we\u2019re watching our opponents play. We\u2019re gaining as much knowledge as we can on who we\u2019re going to see on the mound and in their lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cLenoir-Rhyne is probably the most prolific offense in the country right now. They have 290 extra-base hits, and 130 of those are home runs. So we\u2019ll certainly have our work cut out for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut our pitching staff will be up to the task. We\u2019ll be prepared. It was certainly a goal to get there, but we\u2019re going down there to play and we\u2019re going down there to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The East Stroudsburg University baseball team opened its 2025 season on Valentine\u2019s Day at the USA Baseball National…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[5,648,1703,1694,2341,185,4802],"class_list":{"0":"post-60729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-college-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-college-baseball","10":"tag-college-sports","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-baseball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114585022256915113","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}