Bill Sassaman enters his third year as an assistant coach for Penn State Harrisburg baseball in 2024-25.
Most recently, Sassaman helped lead the Lions to their fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, with Penn State Harrisburg serving as regional host for the second consecutive season. The Lions won a program-record 35 games and climbed as high as No. 11 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball National Poll and No. 12 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll before finishing the season nationally-ranked for the first time in program history (No. 21/22). Penn State Harrisburg defeated Bridgewater State in the first game of NCAA Regional action after winning the United East Volt Division Title and advancing to the conference championship series for the sixth year in a row. As a team, the Lions ranked second in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (7.56), fourth in ERA (3.39), fifth in WHIP (1.26), seventh in walks (266) and ninth in win percentage (.761).
Josh Berzonski earned D3baseball.com All-America First Team recognition after he was named the 2024 D3baseball.com Region IV Pitcher of the Year. Five players picked up all-region honors from D3baseball.com and/or the ABCA and Rawlings, while 10 players also secured all-conference recognition. Kevin Lehner was named the United East Male Senior Athlete of the Year after he was tabbed the conference's senior-scholar athlete of the year for baseball.
The 2023 campaign was his first on head coach Ryan Bown's staff and saw Penn State Harrisburg host an NCAA Regional for the first time after winning a program-record 34 games. The Lions advanced to their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament after winning a third straight United East Championship by rolling to a 27-7 victory over Penn College in the conference tournament’s deciding contest. Penn State Harrisburg won six games over nationally-ranked opponents the likes of Salisbury (twice), Arcadia (twice), Rowan, and Randolph-Macon, and ranked top-10 nationally in numerous offensive statistical categories, including batting average, walks, scoring, runs, on-base percentage, sacrifice flies, slugging percentage, and hits. Penn State Harrisburg hosted No. 2 Salisbury for a best-of-five NCAA Regional Series, highlighted by a 12-11 walk-off victory over the Sea Gulls in the second game of the series. The Lions finished the season ranked No. 30 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball National Poll and received 23 votes in the final D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll of the year.
With help from Sassaman, nine players combined for 15 all-region honors in 2023, with Kevin Lehner (1T), Josh Berzonski (2T), Fisher Druck (2T), Lucas Floyd (2T), Brendan Henn (2T), Dallas Hite (2T), Matt Parks (2T), Carlos Irizarry (3T), and Maddux Ryan (3T) earning ABCA/Rawllings All-Region accolades, while Lehner (1T), Parks (1T), Ryan (2T), Berzonski (3T), Druck (3T), and Hite (3T) secured D3baseball.com All-Region recognition. Irizarry was named the United East Rookie of the Year and was joined by Berzonski, Druck, Danny Eden, Henn, Hite, Lehner, Parks, and Ryan as all-conference honorees.
