State College baseball has 3 Division I commits. First, they’re looking to make a mark at home
Not one, not two, but three.
State College baseball has three Division I baseball commits — second baseman and pitcher Cooper Ryan (Penn State), catcher Ethan Schimony (Akron) and pitcher Brady Bendik (Navy). They seamlessly went through their warmups Tuesday before a game with Cumberland Valley — Ryan tossing the ball around the diamond with accuracy, not letting it hit the ground besides before scooping it, Schimony and Bendik both in-sync for pitch signals.
It’s what makes them an important trio for head coach Jeremy Dinsmore’s team. Dinsmore watched the team put everything together up close with his star players taking the lead. All three are heavily involved in game day preparation and are relied upon in many other aspects of the day-to-day running of the team.
“They’re an extension of our coaching staff, really,” Dinsmore said. “They’ve played a lot of baseball and they’ve played a lot of baseball together. Collectively they made it as a big group effort to get all of the teammates on the same page. They worked really hard as a team during the offseason to be in unison to get the things going that we needed to get going.”
Bendik is the bulldog of the group. He speaks with a roaring confidence and with a voice that someone would expect from a future military officer. The son and brother of Naval Academy graduates, Bendik always valued the idea of serving the country. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound pitcher starred on the football team as a bruising running back, but the future Navy pitcher also looks to bruise batters by serving fastballs.
He pounds the zone with a flurry of fastballs, looking to make the batter swing their bat as if it were a garden hose. Bendik buckles the knees of batters with a sharp curveball that has the sharpness of Grade A cheddar. He stares down the batter with intensity and subtly looks into the eyes of Schimony with both knowing what’s coming next. After that, they’ll have a laugh about it in the dugout.
“He’s one of my best friends on and off the field,” Bendik said. “I feel like we work great as a pitcher-catcher duo. I’m really excited for the rest of the season and everything to come with it.”
Schimony committed to Akron in September 2021, soon after the program began its recruitment. He enjoyed the family-like experience and his time on campus. He met his future teammates and other recruits, soaking in every portion of his time there.
The senior catcher had a breakout season in 2021. The then-junior catcher had a .471 batting average in 34 at-bats, along with a .609 on-base percentage, a .617 slugging percentage, scoring eight runs, while driving in 13 runs with three doubles, a triple The 6-foot-1, 190-pound catcher has grown into one of the smoother backstops in Centre County, commanding pitchers and working through counts with Bendik.
The two seniors share a strong connection.
“He’s been pitching to me for a while now,” Schimony said. “I know all of his movements and all of his pitches. I know where he likes to throw it to certain hitters. I know if we get a big guy coming up, he’s probably going to start him off with a curve ball flat or something like that. So, it’s nice to have that kind of connection with our pitchers so that we can move throughout the season. We want to work efficiently, get through games and keep the scores off the board for the other team.”
Ryan selected Penn State because of its proximity to home. He’s bled blue and white since he was a young child, envisioning the day that he’d suit up for his hometown Nittany Lions.
The junior looks to improve on his game each and every day. That comes through watching video of other players pitching and hitting, diving into a workout regimen that involves long tossing every day during the winter and full-body workouts four times a week. The consistent workouts have allowed him to top out at 90 miles per hour on his fastball and sit around 87-89 miles per hour regularly.
He’s received a big push from Schimony and Bendik, sharing a strong bond with them on and off the field. They’re each looking forward to playing one final season together before heading their separate ways.
“Both of them have challenged me to become better every day,” Ryan said. “They’ve been great leaders and basically big brothers. ... Me and Ethan have joked about playing each other in a few years, but right now we’re just having fun playing as teammates.”
