Plum grad Silvio Ionadi produces strong freshman season for Penn State Behrend baseball

Silvio Ionadi enjoyed a standout high school career with the Plum baseball team, but he knew nothing he did with the Mustangs would matter once he crossed over to college baseball.

Especially as a freshman. For first-year college players, playing time often is hard to come by.

So when he arrived at Penn State Behrend, Ionadi adopted a simple philosophy: play so well that he couldn’t be kept off the field.

The numbers speak for themselves: Ionadi appeared in 34 of the Lions’ 38 games, finished second on the team with a .384 batting average (43 for 112), drove in 23 runs and counted four homers among his 17 extra-base hits. He also finished second on the team with 10 stolen bases, helping the Lions finish second in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.

He earned an AMCC Player of the Week honor along the way, going 10 for 19 with 12 RBIs during a five-game stretch over the final week of April.

“We thought, originally, that Silvio would have a chance to kind of get his feet wet and help us a little bit and just keep growing,” said Behrend coach Paul Benim, who recorded his 700th career victory this season. “Silvio came in right away, and we said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to find a way to get him in the lineup.’ ”

Ionadi’s natural position is shortstop, but because Behrend had a returning shortstop in sophomore Chase Palmer, Ionadi said he spent the preseason working out at second and third.

But once Ionadi started to flash his potential, Benim’s wheels began turning, trying to churn out a way to get him on the field. Benim decided to move Palmer to the outfield and slide Ionadi into the shortstop role. The move worked out for both players, as Palmer also had a productive season offensively with a .331 average, two homers and 27 RBIs.

“I just wanted to have as much fun as I can, going out there and playing,” Ionadi said of his first-year goals. “Just when I got my chances, I tried to make the most of it.”

He got his first collegiate start against Gettysburg in the fifth game of the season. Then, after sitting out the next game against Northwestern (Minn.) and appearing only as a pinch-hitter against Elizabethtown, Ionadi was back in the lineup and went 2 for 4, including a triple, with two runs against Northwestern.

He stayed in the lineup every game after that.

His season included a four-game stretch bridging late March and early April during which he went 9 for 16, including one of his five three-hit games. Two of his four homers came in one game against AMCC regular-season champion Alfred State on April 25. He went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and seven RBIs in that 10-3 victory.

“Silvio is a really good athlete and has good baseball instincts,” Benim said. “He’s had some pretty big at-bats for us, which is pretty impressive for a first-year player.

“We (had) a really good hitter hitting behind him, an all-conference senior. I think people (went) after Silvio a little bit knowing Isaac Stouffer was behind him, and Silvio made them pay.”

Added Ionadi: “I just always try to have good at-bats when I can and play my hardest. As long as you play hard and do your best out there, they will see, and everyone will respect you a lot more.

“I feel like I made the adjustments (to college hitting) pretty quickly. I try not to look into what the other pitchers are doing or what they look like. Just nameless, faceless guys out there and just have confidence in myself and just think that no one can beat me if I play my best.”

Ionadi capped his freshman season by being named to the AMCC all-tournament team. But the conclusion of his — and the Lions’ — season came perhaps a little sooner than expected. Behrend dropped its first two games in the double-elimination tournament after going in as the No. 2 seed.

The team will say goodbye to a large senior class, which made Ionadi’s quick development that much more important as he will be relied upon more heavily next season.

“It was very interesting to play with those guys,” Ionadi said. “They’re a good group of guys, and learning from them and learning through their actions has been the best. Just in their work ethic and how much time really goes into it. You show up at the field an hour early, and there will be guys out there doing stuff.”

Ionadi now takes that knowledge and experience into the offseason. He will keep in tune this summer by playing in the long-running Daily News League while also doing individual work.

One area he said he wants to shore up is his fielding, the one part of his game he seemed to struggle with this season.

Struggles, however, were few and far between for Ionadi, who credited the Plum program for preparing him for college. He now has his sights set on carrying over the momentum from this season into next season and beyond.

“I think if he continues to evolve and work,” Benim said, “he has really good potential to become and all-conference, all-region type of shortstop.”