Gettysburg Baseball Wins First 15 Games, Setting Best Record In Program History
Will Stellato ’27 batting during the March 19 game against Stevenson, which Gettysburg won 13-3. (Photo by David Sinclair/Gettysburg Athletics)
By Noah Simkiss, Staff Writer
The Gettysburg baseball team started the 2025 season with a fifteen-game win streak, which included two shutouts and eight games in which the Bullets’ run count was in the double digits. Gettysburg baseball’s current record stands at 15-1, the best start to a Bullets’ baseball season in program history.
The teams defeated by Gettysburg during the win streak include Penn College, Notre Dame (MD.), Albright, Wilson, Waynesburg, Lasell, Kenyon, Thiel, Centenary (NJ.), Franciscan, Marywood and Stevenson. The streak included two shutouts, one of which was a complete game shutout by Alex Wilkie-Viscio ’26, and another which came against Franciscan.
The Bullets’ impressive record has earned them recognition both individually and as a team. On Mar. 17, Gettysburg baseball was ranked #21 on the d3baseball.com poll, which featured the Bullets for the first time since 2014.
Jack Burke ’25, who currently leads the team in batting average at .458, was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Week for Feb. 24 – Mar. 2. A week later, Jack Pistner ’25, who leads the team in RBIs with 32, was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Week, and Wilkie-Viscio, who leads the team in strikeouts and saves, was named Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Week.
Other notable team leaders include John Francesconi, who leads Gettysburg pitchers with an ERA of 0.98 and Matt Nichols ’25 who has the second highest batting average at .410.
According to Cory Beddick, head coach of the team and Gettysburg class of 2010, some of the team’s success has come from focusing on baseball fundamentals.
“We want our pitchers to attack the strike zone and our defense to make the routine plays consistently,” Beddick said. “Our guys have done a great job making the other team earn everything they get.”
Beddick, who is in his third year as head coach for the Bullets, also mentioned senior leadership as a key factor to the team’s success this season. This leadership comes, in part, from the six seniors whom Beddick named the 2025 captains: Brian Anderson ’25, Aidan Brusey ’25, Burke, Nichols, Pistner and Bruno Spadafora ’25.
Burke, one of the captains and the team leader in batting average, hits and stolen bases, also emphasized the team dynamic as a factor in the Bullets’ success this season.
“Man, I love so many things about this team, and I could go on and on about how hard we’ve worked and all the fundamentals we’ve practiced that have been paying off,” Burke said. “But instead, I want to talk about the bond we have. I truly believe that most of our success this season has come from how close this team is.”
Burke continued, stressing the importance of every single member of the team and the value that every player brings to the team, regardless of position or playing time. Burke also highlighted the Gettysburg baseball coaching staff, specifically mentioning Beddick, pitching coach Jeremy Hefele, assistant coaches Jayson Kramer and Brooks Warrenfeltz, strength and conditioning coach Logan Reever and athletic trainer Shelby Sherman.
“These coaches have done an incredible job in preparing us to have this success,” he said. “Lastly, Shelby, our athletic trainer, is the best trainer ever. She works so hard for the baseball team, helps us recover, and prepares us for the games.”
While the Gettysburg baseball team and coaches have had a historic start to the 2025 season, conference play starts within the upcoming weeks.
“The schedule only gets more difficult,” said Beddick. “We want to keep the momentum that we have built and make sure we are playing our best going into the most important games of the year. Even though we have done well so far, we feel like we haven’t played our best baseball yet.”
Although the Bullets lost on Friday for the first time this season, the team is taking the season one game at a time, according to Burke. “We need to keep the mindset of going 1-0 every day,” he said. “If we focus on staying present, controlling what we can control, and doing everything in our power to win the day and the game, we are going to keep rolling.”
As the team approaches the second half of the season, Beddick said that the Bullets players bring energy to the team every day, while also acknowledging that there are more talented teams out there and focusing on playing solid baseball.
“We need to win by preparing the right way, playing the game hard, and wanting to win more than the other team,” Beddick said.
Their record now sits at 16-1, after a loss on Friday to Gwynedd Mercy and a win on Saturday against Mount Aloysius.
