A Warren Area High School senior, Brady wasn’t always in love with baseball.

“No, I really was never a big fan of baseball until my sophomore year,” he said. “If you asked me five years ago, I would have said basketball.”

Berdine is a three-sport standout at WAHS with baseball, basketball, and mostly recently, golf.

However, a good day to Brady is a good day on the mound, and his growing love of pitching has led him to sign on to pitch at Division II Gannon University in the fall.

“I realized it was baseball in my sophomore year when I made a significant jump in velocity and realized that I should probably start taking this more seriously and that I could pursue this on a college level,” he said.

“(Gannon University was) one of the first schools to reach out to me and they are a very good program and have very good coaches and facilities for baseball, and I thought that it would be a good fit for me and it is a great school as well,” he said.

Very interesting that Gannon plays in the same conference as Ben’s Mercyhurst Lakers.

“Playing against my brother has definitely crossed my mind a few times and his influence weighs heavily on me on striving to get better to accomplish what he has,” said Brady. “Playing against him will be a reminder of all the days we played Wiffle Ball in the backyard.”

Now a junior Sports Business Management major, Ben was one of the top arms out of the Mercyhurst bullpen for the Lakers in the spring, appearing in 15 games with an ERA of 2.28. He logged 23.2 innings for the most of anyone not to make a start on the season. He had a season-high four strikeouts on two occasions, doing so against Slippery Rock on March 24 and Gannon on April 7.

In high school, Ben was an all-district and all-region baseball all-star and a District 10 champion with the Dragons as a sophomore. He also scored over 1,000 points in basketball. However, baseball was always his path in college.

“Super proud dad,” said Jeff Berdine. “Ben amazes me every day in how much he has matured and grown as a person at Mercyhurst. Credit to him, his teammates and their coaches. Ben had his goal and the path he wanted to take.

“Brady’s path has been a lot different,” said Jeff, who has coached both sons in high school basketball and Little League and travel baseball through the years. “He went from baseball being the last of the sports he played… (In middle school,) we talked about staying with it for one more year. Get to the big field and see how it goes. He had a lot of fun his freshman year with coach Eaton and it reignited his love of the game. From there, it was about baseball and then recently golf. I rent him a couple months a year for hoops.”

It’s easy to say that Brady has a ton of support.

“My dad has had a huge role in shaping who I am in every aspect in my life, especially in just making sure I do what I need to do to succeed, always being by my side when I need him, and always just trying to help me in whatever, no matter what, and he has also been coaching me for around 10 plus years,” Brady said.

“My mom (Nicki Berdine) has always been my person to go to whenever anything happens and is always there to congratulate me or to try and bring me up after a loss or whatever it may be,” he said. “She always keeps me in check, taking me wherever I need to be, and making sure I have anything I could want.

“My grandpa (Roy Swanson) has been my biggest inspiration in baseball and in general,” said Brady. “With him playing baseball at Penn State and being drafted, he knows what he is talking about and has been helping me with baseball throughout my whole life and was my first pitching coach. I remember throwing in his backyard on a homemade mound at eight years old, and will forever remember those times. He will also text me after every time I pitch and ask how I felt I did and some things I should work on, and he has been my biggest mentor in pitching and more recently golf.”

Brady got to hold a District 10 trophy with the WAHS boys golf team’s recent team title, the first in program history.

“Being a senior has crept up really fast and it feels like yesterday I was a freshman and sometimes I just think about how I only have one season left of high school sports,” he said, “and it’s wild how fast time goes.

“For next year and in the summer, I just need to focus on perfecting my craft and hitting the weight room to gain some more speed,” added Brady.

First will be the high school basketball season in which Berdine returns to a team coached for over two decades by his dad. Mom is always in the stands.

“We are so proud and excited for Brady,” said Nicki. “He has worked hard and has had a lot of support throughout the years by his coaches and teammates. I am one very lucky mom for both of my boys to have an opportunity to play a sport at the college level. Like most parents, I absolutely love watching my boys do what they love and am so thankful I get a chance to watch them play a little longer. While it would have been fun for Ben and Brady to play together again, Brady made his decision based upon what he felt was the best fit for him. So when the Gannon Golden Knights and the Mercyhurst Lakers play each other in the spring of 2025, I will be sporting both teams’ colors.”

As a high school junior for the Dragons, Berdine was 2-3 with a 1.77 ERA in 31.2 innings, striking out 58 batters.

“I think just having a good day on the mound and just everything feels good and getting a win really makes me enjoy it the most,” said Berdine.

“Ed Baldensperger and both my sons have shared a passion for pitching and awesome player-coach relationships,” said Jeff. “They have been lucky to have him help them along their journeys to D2 college programs.”

Warren head coach Andrew Morrison said the Dragons are also lucky to have an ace like Berdine.

“I’m really happy for Brady and his family,” said Morrison. “It’s been really fun to watch him progress and improve over the last three years. I think he made a great choice and has both the physical and mental skillset to be successful at Gannon. I think one thing the other coaches and I tried to tell Brady early on, starting with his sophomore year, is to be yourself. That can be hard to do when you’re coming up right after your brother, who was one of the best pitchers in program history. Brady is right up there with him now, but he’s done it his way and that’s really admirable.

“Pitching is the best thing you can have in high school baseball,” added Morrrison. “We’ve been lucky to have an ace like Brady that we have been able to go to for this long. We expect him to be the guy for us again this year, looking forward to it.”

There really wasn’t an option in college without baseball, according to Berdine.

“My long-term goals are to get through college baseball with a solid career and, even though the odds are stacked against me for pro ball, it’s always a possibility for anything.”