JACKSON TWP— Four Seneca Valley baseball players recently agreed to college scholarships in the sport.

But their Raiders coaches and teammates need not say goodbye just yet. All four — pitchers Cory Mazzoni, Kyle Helisek and Eric Aschley, along with third baseman Tyler Bream — still have their senior seasons to play next spring.

"I don't know how rare that is at other schools, having four players sign early,"SVbaseball coach Eric Semega said. "But I know it's never happened here before.

"And we're probably going to have a few more players signing before we're done."

Dan Jergel, Ken Walrond, Shaine Patsilevas, Ryan Turner and Mike Eonta are among the other Raiders likely to receive college baseball opportunities.

For now, Mazzoni is headed to North Carolina State, Helisek is going to Villanova, Bream to Liberty and Aschley to Mercyhurst College.

All four of those programs posted winning records in 2007. Seneca Valley won the Class AAAstate title in the spring, posting a 22-2 record.

Mazzoni was 11-0 with a 1.10 earned run average for the Raiders, striking out 96 in 78 innings.

"I'm excited about heading south to play,"Mazzoni said. "Penn State and Pitt were interested in me, but I wanted to go play where it's warm."

Winthrop and Georgia Southern were other southern schools interested in Mazzoni, a hard-throwing right-hander.

"Cory came up big for us in the tournament last year time after time,"Semega said.

North Carolina State posted a 38-23 record last season, 16-14 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and lost to Clemson in the finals of the ACCTournament in 2006.

Helisek was 8-0 for the Raiders, compiling a 2.30 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 51 innings.

"Cory and I complement each other well,"Helisek said. "I'm a left-hander who throws a lot of off-speed stuff and he's a hard-throwing right-hander. It's definitely helped me following him in the rotation."

Helisek opted for Villanova over Bucknell, Lafayette, Rider and Duquesne. The Wildcats were 29-25 last year, 13-15 in the Big East, and have not won the Big East championship or qualified for the NCAATournament since 1991.

"Kyle has the ability to place his pitches and change speeds extremely well,"Semega said. "He's the first pitcher I've allowed to call his own game on the mound since Zach Jackson."

Jackson has appeared in the major leagues with Milwaukee and is on the Brewers' 40-man roster.

With Mazzoni and Helisek eating up most of the innings, Aschley worked about three frames for Seneca Valley last season.

He excelled for the Seneca Valley Palomino team in the summer, however, going 3-1 with a 1.00 ERAand striking out 26 batters in 28 innings.

Mercyhurst was 32-20 last year, 17-11 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and will be a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference next spring.

"I never went to a pitching camp before last summer (July 14 at LaRoche College) and they clocked me at 88 mph,"Aschley said. "I never would have guessed I threw that hard."

"Eric's been more of an infielder with us, but his pitching really developed over the summer,"Semega said. "He'll get an opportunity to throw some innings for us next year."

For Bream, going to Liberty University in Virginia is strictly a family thing. He never looked anywhere else.

"My whole family has gone there," he said. "My brother Michael is there now, my father and mother went there, and my cousin, Doug, is an outfielder-first baseman on the team right now."

Seneca Valley graduate Ryan Page is a senior at Liberty this year. The 6-foot-3 left-hander was 3-3 with a 4.57 ERAfor the Flames last year as the team posted a 36-25 record, 14-7 in the Big South.

Bream, the son of former major league first baseman Sid Bream, hit .393 with three homers for the Raiders last year. He hit .397 with four homers for the SVPalomino squad.

He did not play baseball for his high school team before last year.

"It was a chance to play more baseball," he said. "And when Liberty offered me, there was no need to look anywhere else."

"Tyler is an excellent third baseman with a cannon for an arm,"Semega said. "And he's still growing.

"All four of these guys have a great work ethic toward the game. That's what has gotten them to this point."