Joe Brooks enters his second season as an assistant coach for the Penn State Abington baseball program. Brooks works closely with the hitters and infielders as well as recruiting.
In his first season, Brooks helped guide the Nittany Lions to a 25-13 finish, setting a program record for wins in a season after inheriting a program that had finished 16-23 in the year prior. After starting the season off 0-4, the Nittany Lions went 22-3 in their next 25, highlighted by a 13 game win streak. The Nittany Lions capped off their win streak by picking up a win against #1/#5 Rowan University on 4/24.
Brooks mentored freshman infielder Ryan McCarty, who was selected as a D3Baseball and ABCA All-American, the first in program history. McCarty was also selected as the D3Baseball Rookie of the Year, an award given to the top freshman across all of Division III baseball, along with Mid-Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year and NEAC Rookie of the Year honors. McCarty went on to have a record setting year, establishing single season program standards for hits, runs scored, and RBI’s in his first year with the Nittany Lions.
McCarty was invited to play for the Alpharetta Aviators of the Sunbelt Collegiate Baseball League over the summer and was selected to the all star team. Brooks also mentored sophomore outfielder Stevie Stevenson who received First Team All-Conference honors. Stevenson saw serious improvement from the year prior under Brooks’ guidance in several categories including a jump in batting average from from .250 to .327. Sophomore infielder Kyle Marshall ranked 11th in the nation in on-base percentage at .535.
In his first year, Brooks guided an offense that featured major contributions from 5 freshmen and 4 sophomores that set 6 program records including runs scored (344), on-base percentage (.424), sacrifice flies (27), RBI’s (295), hit by pitch (81), and homeruns (13) in 38 games. The Nittany Lions also improved in every offensive category from the year prior.
The Nittany Lions ranked amongst the top 25 in the nation in 4 offensive categories including runs scored per game (9.1, 9th), hit by pitch (81, 9th), on-base percentage (.424, 15th), and walks (221, 20th). The Nittany Lions also ranked 31st in the nation in sacrifice flies with 27 and 41st in total runs scored (344) in just 38 games. In Brooks’ first season, the Nittany Lions also ranked 1st in the country in double plays per game (1.21) while turning 46 in 38 games. They also saw a .23 point increase in fielding percentage from the year prior.
Prior to Abington, Brooks served as an assistant coach with Timber Creek High School for the 2017 season and Brooklawn American Legion from 2013-2017.
During his collegiate career, Brooks accomplished more in his three years at Rutgers-Camden than most players do in their four-year careers. He led his team to the only two regular-season New Jersey Athletic Conference baseball titles in school history,and helped Rutgers-Camden reach its first ever NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament. While at Rutgers-Camden, Brooks earned all-conference honors both athletically and academically, set several program standards and conducted a three-year hitting clinic on the collegiate level.
As a freshman in 2014, Brooks hit a career high .421 with 67 hits, 49 runs scored and a .523 on-base percentage in 44 games while being tabbed an All-American. Brooks was a three year starter at Rutgers-Camden after transferring from East Carolina University where he began his collegiate career. In just three years, he finished his career as Rutgers-Camden’s all-time batting average leader (.386). He ranked second in career on-base percentage (.473), second in career hits (187), third in runs scored (112), and fifth in walks (65). He also ranked among the program’s career leaders with 230 total bases (5th) and 82 RBI’s (9th), while starting all of Rutgers-Camden’s 125 games over his three-year career.
A stellar student as well, Brooks was a member of Rutgers-Camden’s inaugural Athletic Director’s Honor Roll during the Fall 2015 semester. He was one of only five athletes on that team to post a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
Brooks graduated from Rutgers University-Camden in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in History with a concentration in secondary and special education.
