Seth Bendian set the stage for the baseball team’s rise to the top of the Middle Atlantic Conference in the 1980s.
The speedy middle infielder burst onto the diamond as the conference’s leading hitter in his debut season of 1984. After winning only five games that spring, the Bullets would capture at least 15 victories in each of the next three campaigns with Bendian setting the tone at the top of the order. As a sophomore, he was selected All-MAC Southern Division First Team after hitting .358 and swiping a career-high 21 stolen bases.
In 1986, the baseball team captured its first conference championship in 24 years. The Bullets repeated the feat the following season behind an MVP performance by Bendian. He posted a .451 batting average in conference play, stole 20 bases, and set the program’s single-season record with 34 runs scored.
Bendian finished his baseball career as the program’s all-time leader in runs (104), hits (129), doubles (24), and stolen bases (68). He remains the only Gettysburg player to steal 20 or more bases in two separate seasons.
He also played two seasons on a pair of Centennial Conference champion football teams, competing at defensive back and on special teams.
A native of Teaneck, N.J., Bendian graduated from Gettysburg with a degree in political science.
