Andy Close
WARREN, Pa. – Brady Berdine is going to be a Gannon Golden Knight.
The Warren Dragon baseball standout signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his academic and athletic career on Wednesday at Warren Area High School.
“I like the coaches, they seem great,” Berdine said of what made him feel at home at Gannon. “There are good facilities for the winter up in Erie, where it gets kind of bad in the winter. They have great indoor facilities and just a great team, great coaches and a good area for me.”
See Berdine’s full interview:
Berdine has put together a dominant career for the Dragons, and last season had a 1.77 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 31 ⅔ innings pitched, holding opponents to a .183 batting average against.
It was during his sophomore year that he took a big leap, and realized that playing in college was a goal he wanted to achieve.
“My sophomore year I made a huge jump with my velocity,” Berdine said. “And I thought this is something I should take more serious.”
His head coach at Warren, Andrew Morrison, has seen that growth as well.
“Super happy for Brady and his family, it’s definitely an exciting day for them and for our program,” Morrison said. “Gannon is a great program, he made a really nice choice. Brady’s been our number one pitcher since game one of his sophomore year, and he’s consistently delivered for us against some really good competition. I think that will prepare him really well for the PSAC.
“Brady has worked really hard to become a complete pitcher. He’s evolved from a younger kid who could throw hard into a seasoned pitcher that can get you out with four different pitches. Our pitching coach Ed Baldensperger has done an awesome job with him, they have a great rapport and it’s fun to see those two work together. He’s really put in the work on his own to get better to, that’s what it takes to accomplish what he has. Obviously we are looking forward to watching him this year, we expect him to be a leader for us and to be a huge factor in all phases of the game.”
Berdine joins the PSAC, where he will get to see his older brother, Ben for at least one season. Ben is going into his junior season as a pitcher at Mercyhurst.
“It’ll be fun,” the younger Berdine said. “I hope I get to face him, but either way, it’s still cool.”
While Berdine’s future is on the diamond, his high school career has been filled with accolades in multiple sports.
He was one of the top players for the District 10 champion Warren golf team, and is also an all-region performer playing for his dad, Jeff, on the Dragons’ basketball team.
With that, there is still more he wants to accomplish before his high school career comes to an end.
“I just really want to have fun the rest of the time,” Berdine said. “Hopefully we can win the district (in basketball). In baseball, be as good as I can on the mound and win games.”
