Biography
2016: Named to the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic team. ... Bentley, who is in a five-year program that will see him earn a degree in architecture and a master's degree in civil engineering in May 2017, posted a 3.54 GPA. ...A left-handed pitcher, Bentley ended his season with a 4-5 won-lost record. However, he leaves with his name etched all over the Highlander record book. ...He was the winning pitcher when NJIT beat USC Upstate in the first-ever A-Sun game for the Highlanders on April 1. He did it with five innings of five-hit, one-run relief that included seven strikeouts. ...That his A-Sun win came in his only relief appearance of 2016 was fitting, because the bullpen is where the slender product of Lancaster, PA, first made his mark for NJIT. As a freshman in 2013, Bentley pitched in 19 games, 18 as a reliever, and notched a team-leading five saves, while also winning three games. ...He shifted to the starting rotation part way through his sophomore year and won six games that year, followed by a school Division I-record seven wins as a junior. His four victories this season raised his career total to 20, a new school Division I record, surpassing Tripp Davis (Class of 2013), who won 19 career games. ...Bentley's 4.40 career earned run average is second on the DI list among pitchers with at least 120 innings pitched and his 3.24 ERA in 2014 is the best season mark for pitchers with at least 40 IP. His 61 appearances are second all-time and his 34 games started are fourth....His seven complete games in 2015 are tops all-time and his 12 complete games overall are third on the career DI list. He is third on the career innings list (272) and third in career strikeouts (211).
2015: The junior set the NJIT Division I record for wins in a season (7) and complete games (7). ... with a 7-4 record and a 3.42 ERA he pitched in a team-high 76.1 innings, recording a team-high 70 strikeouts. ... finished the season with a 1.000 fielding percentage with four put outs and 17 assists. ... earned NJIT Male Athlete of the Week three times (4/13, 5/4, 5/11). ... 2014-15 Chi Alpha Sigma award recipient.
Summer 2014: Played for the Jayhawk Collegiate League second-place Hays (KS) Larks. Bentley joined the team mid-summer and had 2 saves while throwing a 1.37 ERA, 22 K's in 19 plus innings. ...he helped guide the team to the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas, where the Hays Larks finished third out of 40 of the nation's top amateur teams. ...Bentley threw shutout ball in 3 appearances striking out 3 in 3.1 innings.
2014: The sophomore left-hander, named to the NJCBA All-Rookie team as a freshman in 2013, raised his game another level in 2014 tabbing NJCBA second-team honors, with the rare distinction of leading his team in both wins (6) and saves (2), not to mention innings pitched (72.1), even though he made just 8 starts when three others started anywhere from 10 to 12 games. ...In winning six, he tied the program Division I record, which was done twice in the previous seven seasons of competition at college ball's top level. .. He did not enter the starting rotation full-time until April 5, having started on NJIT's first 2014 day outdoors at a tournament in Texas. After that, he made 9 consecutive relief appearances, filling a role he filled ably in 2013, when he won 3 games and saved 5 in 19 appearances (18 in relief). ...his work this year in 7 starts from April 5 solidified his spot in the rotation moving forward. He went at least 7 innings in each of those 7 starts, posting a 5-0 record with two no-decisions (8 innings, 3 earned runs; career-high 9 innings, 3 earned runs). He had two 7-inning starts with one earned run and a 7-inning 1-hit shutout vs. Maryland Eastern Shore. Bentley was denied a seventh victory in his last start when he tossed the 9 innings at Niagara in a game the Highlanders lost in 10. ...Bentley's 3.24 earned run average ended up tops on the team among pitchers who started a game and was second overall only to Tyler Kapp, who posted a 2.67 ERA in 18 relief appearances.
Summer 2013: Bentley played for the Jayhawk Collegiate League champion Hays (KS) Larks. ...Bentley was honored as a 2nd-team All-Jayhawk League reliever after going 4-1 with 27 strikeouts in 23.3 innings and a 2.31 earned run average. He allowed 7 walks and had an opponents' batting average of .245. In addition to league play, the Larks were in the NBC World Series in Wichita, KS, where they placed 10th among 40 of the nation's top amateur teams. Bentley pitched in two games in Wichita and did  not allow a run.
2013: Earned 2013 New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA) Division I All-State Rookie Team honors. ... Bentley, the Highlanders crafty left-handed pitcher, appeared in 19 games (18 in relief), with a team-leading five saves (the 2nd-highest single-season saves total for NJIT since 2007, its first Division I season). ...He was a 3-2 overall record in 41.2 innings pitched while striking out 28 batters. He had two streaks of four consecutive scoreless appearances, but his ERA was been inflated by 5 rough outings in his 17 total appearances. He had 10 scoreless appearances (25.1 innings) and two more where he allowed one run (4 innings total).
Prior to NJIT: Played outfield, first base and pitched at Lancaster Catholic High School in Lancaster, PA where he earned three varsity letters in baseball. ...one of only four All-League all-star pitchers in the Lancaster-Lebanon League chosen from a 24-team league in 2012. ...he also made the LL League all-star team as sophomore, junior and senior. ... In his senior year he won 5 games, led the league in strikeouts with 56 and lowest ERA with a 1.60. ... He also helped his team compete in their first league championship playoff game in the history of the school as well as help them reach PA state district playoffs. His high school team won two section titles in three years. ...Ian was selected to represent the Blue Mountain region in the state of Pennsylvania’s annual Keystone Games as a senior and also played travel ball with the Mid-Atlantic Rookies as a junior and senior and performed in the Perfect Game Tournament both years in Georgia.
Personal: Ian Bentley. ... son of Michelle and Glen Bentley. ...majoring in architecture and masters in civil engineering. ... born 6/16/94 in Houston, TX.
