Game 1
Game 2

Kutztown, Pa. - The Millersville baseball needed to sweep Saturday's PSAC Eastern Division doubleheader at Kutztown to keep its PSAC playoff hopes afloat. The Marauders took game one 4-3 but the offense ran out of steam in the nightcap, falling 3-0 and ending their the season with a 24-23 overall record.

While the Marauders missed their second-straight appearance in the postseason, they can take consolation in that it was the first Millersville squad to finish with a winning record since 2001.

The two teams split Friday's doubleheader at Millersville, and the Marauders, which finished 10-14 in the PSAC East had to take three of the four games because the two teams they were tied with, East Stroudsburg and Mansfield, both had tiebreaker advantages.

In the game one victory, Millersville used a seventh inning RBI single from freshman Adam Boyd and an oustanding effort from its pitching staff.

It was evident from the outset that Coach Jon Shehan's Marauders were going to be aggressive. The Marauders scored first when Miles Gallagher walked, swiped second, stole third and then stole home. While Kutztown tied the game in the bottom of the inning, Millersville came right back in the third. Lance Miller singled and stole second. He moved up to third on an error and then scored on a Ryan McCormick sacrifice fly.

Millersville boosted the lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Boyd singled in Miller for the first of his two RBIs.

Starter Kyle Belanchik turned in a gritty performance, holding Kutztown to one run in the first four innings. In the fifth, however, the Golden Bears struck for two, tying the game at 3-3. Shehan called on Michael Mesveskas (1-0), who immediately closed the door on Kutztown in the fifth and worked a shutout sixth inning as well.

With the score tied in the seventh, Miller put himself into scoring position with a double to left and after McCormick was hit by a pitch, Boyd came through with his second RBI single of the game, putting the Marauders up 4-3.

Andrew Clemens entered the bottom of the inning and sat down the Golden Bears in order for his fifth save of the year.

The Marauders out-hit Kutztown 7-4 and received two from both Miller and Boyd. Miller also scored three of the team's four runs.

MIllersville, however, could not repeat the dramatics in game two. While freshman Jason Long (2-3) turned in a solid effort, Kutztown's Adam Maini (6-2) won the dual, surrendering just three hits and striking out seven.

Long allowed just one earned run on seven hits in 4.2 innings of work before the bullpen finished the game. Clemens pitched in the final inning, making his third appearance in two days.

Long kept Kutztown off the board for three innings, but the Golden Bears scratched across one run in each of the last three innings.

At the plate, Boyd, Keith Spencer and Cody Wile recorded Millersville's only hits.

The Marauders finished with a 10-14 record in the PSAC Eastern Division. Five seniors--Clemens, Miller, Wile, Scott Slembecker and Andrew Dochterman--will be lost to graduation, but the Marauders will likely return 11 players with starting experience including three of its top four hitters, and its entire starting rotation in 2010.

In the last two seasons, Millersville has totaled 48 wins. It is the most successful two-year stretch for the program since winning 52 games between the 2001 and 2002 seasons.