Teammates For Life
ERIE — Teammates for life.
To this point, that is not an overstatement for Seneca Valley graduates John Brittner and Brady Kress.
Both are seniors on the Penn State Behrend baseball team, which begins Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament play Thursday against Penn State Altoona. Brittner is an outfielder, Kress a starting pitcher.
“They are cornerstones on our team,” Lions coach Paul Benim said. “Talk about character guys. They produce on the field and they are leaders of this program.
“Their story is pretty amazing.”
Brittner and Kress were teammates as far back as T-Ball and Little League. They won championships together with Little League all-star teams in Zelienople.
They continued on as teammates in youth baseball, then were teammates at Seneca Valley. They were part of Raider teams that won section and WPIAL championships.
Now they've been teammates for four years at Penn State Behrend, the No. 2 seed in the AMCC tourney. The Lions are 23-4 overall, 12-6 in league play.
“We've never won the conference championship,” Brittner said of their college career. “It'd be a great way to go out.”
Winding up at Behrend together was coincidental.“John committed to Behrend first,” Kress said. “I was considering there, but was also looking at Allegheny and Grove City.“I wound up choosing Behrend for the name recognition of Penn State and the fishing in Erie. I'm an avid fisherman and loved the idea of being close to the lake.”Kress is majoring in supply chain management with a minor in information systems. Brittner is majoring in accounting and finance with a minor in economics.Both have received academic honors in college.“John is one of those players who gives every ounce of what he's got every game,” Benim said. “He's an all-energy guy.“Brady has developed into one of our starting pitchers. He battles when he's on the mound. He'll start one of our tournament games.“These are two well-rounded, quality people who will be successful in whatever direction their lives take them,” Benim added.Brittner is hitting .338 with 27 RBI this season. Kress is 3-3 with a 5.33 earned run average in 32.1 innings pitched.
“We decided not to room together in college,” Brittner said. “We figured that if we had other roommates, we would meet more people.“The two of us, we're always going to hang out together.”Kress agreed.“By rooming with other people, we were able to expand our circle of friends. That's worked out well,” he said.The two have not always played on the same team. Both played in the Eagle County League last summer, but Brittner played for Cranberry while Kress suited up for Zelienople.“I pitched to him in one game and he went 2-for-3 against me, so I guess he got the better of it,” Kress said.Both will graduate this spring and both anticipate returning to their respective Eagle County teams this summer.“We haven't seen the last of each other on a baseball field, I'm, sure,” Brittner said. “But this spring will be it for us as teammates.“Yeah, I'm gonna miss that. It's been a long time.”Their run of teammates is ending.Their friendship will live on.“I'm pretty sure we're both going to stay in the area,” Kress said. “No matter where we wind up, that bond we've developed in baseball is going to last a long time.”
