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Men's Baseball...
Head Coach
Joe Piotti
11th Season
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21st season overall and 10th as head
coach at Penn State Altoona
Director of the Altoona Curve Academy, a training camp held at Blair
County Ballpark
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Career Highlights |
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AMCC Coach of the Year
(2000)
AMCC Championship
(2000)
CCAC Coach of the Year
(1998, 1999)
WPCC Championship
(1998)
Six straight post-season appearances |
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Coach Piotti enters his 11th season as the
head coach at Penn State Altoona and 21st as a coach in the area. Piotti was
brought on board in 1996 to resurrect a baseball program that had taken a five
year hiatus from competitive play.
Since joining the AMCC in 1999, Piotti holds a 132-157-2 overall record
including a WPCC league championship in 1998 and an Allegheny Mountain
Collegiate Conference (AMCC) title in 2000. Piotti's teams have been to the AMCC
playoffs every year since winning the title in 2000.
Along with two conference championships Piotti has also been recognized for his
coaching abilities, winning CCAC Coach of the Year honors in 1998 and 1999 and
AMCC Coach of the Year in 2000.
As a player Piotti is still active in the Altoona City Baseball League,
competing for nine different teams in his nearly 30 year career.
When he is not playing or coaching Piotti remains active in the local baseball
community and in 2000 established the Altoona Curve Academy. The training camp
is held at Blair County Ballpark, the home of Altoona's minor league baseball
team and runs for six weeks at the start of every year. Piotti, assistant coach
Dave Brisbin and members of the baseball team work with aspiring ball players
ranging in age from seven to eighteen. In 2007 there were over 200 participants
as the clinic has
become one of the most popular in the area.
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Year by Year Coaching
Record
(since joining AMCC and NCAA in 1999) |
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Year |
Overall
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AMCC |
Season Finish |
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W |
L |
T |
W |
L |
T |
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| 1999 |
12 |
18 |
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3 |
3 |
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first year
AMCC member -- not yet active |
| 2000 |
20 |
15 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
AMCC
Champions (tournament rained out) |
| 2001 |
20 |
15 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
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AMCC regular season runner-up |
| 2002 |
10 |
26 |
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3 |
7 |
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| 2003 |
17 |
23 |
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6 |
4 |
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| 2004 |
17 |
20 |
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7 |
5 |
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3rd
place AMCC Tournament |
| 2005 |
17 |
19 |
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9 |
9 |
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Lost
1st round of AMCC Tournament |
| 2006 |
19 |
21 |
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8 |
10 |
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Lost
1st round of AMCC Tournament |
| TOTALS |
132 |
157 |
2 |
50 |
42 |
1 |
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Assistant Coach Dave
Brisbin |
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Dave
Brisbin enters into his fifth season as an assistant coach at Penn State
Altoona. Since Brisbin's arrival in 2003 the Lions have won consecutive AMCC
team batting titles after finishing third in his first season as assistant
coach. Before coming on as an assistant coach, Brisbin was the Lions' hitting
instructor from 1996 to 2000, when Penn State Altoona won the AMCC title.
Brisbin has worked alongside major league hitting instructor Cal Emery, formally
of the Chicago White Sox, for eight years, doing hitting clinics during the
winter months. As someone who still considers himself a student of the game, Brisbin attends the "Be the Best You Can Be" baseball clinic every year in
Cherry Hill, N.J. and has for the past 15 years. He has had the opportunity to
listen and talk to major league coaches such as Jim LeFebvre, Bob Boone, Leo
Mazzoni, Bobby Valentine, and Joe Kerrigan, among others.
He has more than 20 years of
coaching experience at the high school and college levels.
During his playing career, Brisbin won the batting title in
1976 while playing at Tyrone Area High School, and had at least one hit in every
game during that year as well. He won fielding honors in 1976 and finished his
high school career with only three errors. Brisbin also received an invitation
to a Pittsburgh Pirates tryout camp in 1975.
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Copyright © 2003 Penn State Altoona; Varsity Athletics;
Steve Crider, Sports Information Director
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