He grew up and still lives in Effort. He's spent summers in Missouri and West Virginia. His most recent address was Shippensburg, where he went to school the past four years.

Home, though, for Pat Kregeloh is none of the above. In fact, it's not a town, a borough, a city or a state.It's a diamond."I just feel at home on the baseball field," Kregeloh said. "It's where I belong."I started when I was 3 years old. I was playing T-ball then. I've loved the game my whole entire life. I probably picked up a wiffle ball bat when I was 1 year old."Odds are line drives were probably flying off that wiffle ball bat.Kregeloh, who concluded a stellar career at Division 2 Shippenburg University this past spring, is spending this summer (doing what else?) playing ball in the Blue Mountain League for the Northampton Giants. Not surprisingly, he's among the league leaders in average, hits, runs, doubles and slugging percentage.The former Times News Baseball Player of the Year is no stranger to posting impressive stats.At Pleasant Valley, he helped pitch and hit his team to a District 11 title. At the next level, his talents continued to grow."It was a great experience there (at Shippensburg)," said Kregeloh. "It's a very good program. Coach (Matt) Jones runs the program well and I met a lot of good guys. ... It's not the greatest thing for me that it's over right now, but I just want to keep playing.""He has meant everything to our program the past four years," offered Jones, who has spent eight years in charge of the Raiders. "We were down when he got here, and he was the main factor in getting us back to the Division 2 College World Series. You can't ask for more from a student-athlete in the classroom and community. And, of course, he's a pretty good ball player, too."Just how good was Kregeloh's stay at Ship?Consider some of the following:He finished his career tied for second on the school's all-time home run list with 25 and tied for third in RBIs with 141. He also ended his Raider stay with 201 hits, a 320 batting average and a .501 slugging percentage.He became the only person in school history to be named Men's Student-Athlete of the Year twice. Kregeloh, an exercise science major and biology minor, compiled a 3.63 grade-point average.Not only did he star in the batter's box, but he was one of the team's top pitchers. In three seasons, he started 30 games, tossed 206.1 innings, posted a 16-11 record, a 3.10 ERA and struck out 168 batters.He put together one of the best seasons ever as a junior when he led his team to an Atlantic Regional title and a berth in the College World Series. Besides batting .355 with 40 runs scored, 15 doubles, nine homers and an amazing 60 RBIs (in 54 games), he also went 9-5 on the mound and pitched 93.1 innings. That effort made him one of 11 finalists for the Josh Willingham Award, presented to the Division 2 Most Valuable Player."Of all the players I've coached, that season (Kregeloh's junior year) was in the Top 3, but it was definitely the best as a two-way player," Jones said."I was just locked in the whole entire year," said Kregeloh, who finished that season with a 16-game hitting streak. "It's tough when you play game-after-game-after-game to stay consistent every day. But that year I was able to stay consistent the whole year. The game just slowed down for me and everything was flowing the right way. I was focused and zoned in."Focused was how Kregeloh stepped onto the Shippensburg campus back in 2010. After starring for the Bears in high school, he was determined to make his mark at the college ranks.And while it's safe to say he did that, things didn't exactly start the best for the PV grad."We went down South for a couple series (in my freshman year)," Kregeloh said. "I think we were about nine games in and I wasn't hitting that well and after that I cut my swing down, cut everything down, and just started letting the game come to me."Kregeloh, who plays both corner positions, hit just .111 (2-for-18) in those first nine games but after his adjustment his next nine games produced a .414 average with 11 runs scored and six RBIs. From then on, he was a fixture in the Raider lineup."As a freshman he came in and just wanted to compete and prove that he belonged," Jones said. "After that he really started to work on things. He wasn't going to sneak up on anyone after that. Most of the time our opposition's plan was to not let Pat beat them. He really had to be disciplined and change his approach, and he did that."Kregeloh's role also changed after that. Beginning in his sophomore year, he became a key member of the team's pitching staff while continuing to do damage in the batter's box."The first couple outings were good, and then I got hit around a little bit," Kregeloh said. "That's when I started learning to be just not a power pitcher but use a little more finesse and my off-speed more. ... I was always going to be a two-way guy there. There are handful around the conference that do both. Usually when you get to that level you pick one and that's what you stick with. I knew, and the coaches knew, that I could help the team out doing both, so I kind of got put in the situation where I would pitch and hit.""That's fairly common in our program," Jones said. "I was drafted as a first baseman out of high school and signed as a pitcher out of college, so for that reason I am probably more open to it than a lot of college coaches are. But that being said he is the best two-way player that I have coached, no doubt. I'm sure he could have been a little better on the mound had he just done that, but good luck trying to get the bat out of his hands."Unfortunately for Kregeloh, the bat was sort of taken out of his hands this past June when no major league teams drafted him.At least one person feels that was a mistake."I was very disappointed that he didn't get drafted," Jones said. "There is no doubt in my mind that he has the ability to play professional baseball, and play well. I have not been this upset about a guy getting missed in the draft.""I thought I had a chance of getting drafted and there were a few (scouts) that came out and watched," Kregeloh said. "But it didn't happen. I'm going to a couple of tryouts, I might try to play independent ball and get a free agent deal. But there's point in time when you've got realize that it's over. I'm still trying right now. I'm not giving up yet. If things don't work out with baseball I'll probably go back to graduate school and try to become a physical therapist."No matter what happens in the future, Kregeloh's legacy at Shippensburg is secure."What he did at the regional tournament in 2013 to lead us to two victories on the final day is the reason that we are all involved in sports," said Jones. "You dream of those scenarios and being able to step up for your team and Pat did it. But even more with the everyday stuff. He made practice better, he made the weight room better, and he made good decisions in the classroom and off the field. Those are all things that the other guys see and hopefully follow. That's why he has had such an impact on the program and why I was so happy to have the opportunity to write his name on our lineup card for the last four seasons."