Five IUP baseball players recognized with All-PSAC honors

Even though the Crimson Hawks failed to make the playoffs they were honored this past week when five players were named to All-PSAC Team.

Dylan Songer, Robbie Zinsmeister and Stephen Cooke were named to first team All-PSAC. Troy Foster and Ryan Uhl were named to second team All-PSAC.

Songer is a senior who plays first base, who led IUP with a .351 batting average.

“I am very excited to make the All-PSAC team,” Songer said. “It has always been a goal of mine to be a top player at my position in the conference. It is a privelege, and something I will always remember from my playing days here at IUP.”

Songer played in 48 games and had six home runs and 52 RBIs. He was also third on the team in slugging percentage at .570. He was the Hawks top batter against PSAC West opponents, hitting .348 and having 20 RBIs in 24 games in PSAC West play.

“It was nice to see Dylan Songer honored after he had a great senior season for us,” IUP Head Coach Jeff Ditch said. “He has worked his way up from being a part-time player and pinch hitter his first couple years, to first team all-PSAC. It reflects his work ethic and team-first attitude. Dylan has provided leadership with his actions and talent. He will be greatly missed.”

Zinsmeister is a junior who plays short stop, and will be back with the Hawks next season.

“Robbie just keeps getting better and better,” Ditch said. “He was a big contributor as a freshman in 2010 when we won the PSAC West, then in 2011 he was a mainstay in our lineup for a team that finished runner-up in the PSAC tournament. And now this year he was even better than the previous two.”

 Zinsmeister started all 49 games for the Hawks. He hit .326 and had career highs in triples (6), home runs (9) and RBIs (39). He led the PSAC in runs scored with 57, which was also good for 15th in the nation. He was second in the conference with 25 stolen bases and led the team with 57 hits.

“He [Zinsmeister] concludes his junior season by heading up to the Cape in a few weeks to play for Cotuit in the prestigious Cape Cod summer league,” Ditch said.

Cooke, a junior starting pitcher, finished the year with 2.66 ERA.

“it was a great year, and I have to thank my defense throughout the year,” Cooke said. “ I can’t wait to come back next year and try to help make our team better.”

Cooke went 7-1 with 72 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. All of his seven victories were complete games and two of those complete games were shutouts. That was good enough for second in the conference and 12th in the nation. Against PSAC West play Cooke went 5-1 with a 1.96 ERA

“Cooke made the move from closer the past two seasons to our No. 1 pitcher and on most weekends was the most dominate pitcher in the PSAC West,” Ditch said. “His determination and fight on the pitcher’s mound gave our team a much needed boost in the first game of each series.”

Foster is a junior who played in 45 games in his first season on the Crimson Hawks. He hit .311 with 20 RBIs, and earned second team honors at catcher.

“I did all I could to help the team out this season,” Foster said. “Unfortunately we fell short of playoffs, but I am very grateful for receiving the PSAC honors.”

Uhl also earned second team all PSAC honors as well. He played in 38 games splitting time between first base and right field. He batted .346, had eight homeruns and drove in 30 runs.

“It was a pleasant surprise to see the success Ryan Uhl had this year,” Ditch said. “Not often do 
freshmen get honored, but his talent and baseball skills were as good or better than most juniors and seniors in the league.

Songer and Zinsmeister were also named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team.