Saturday, May 28
Cary, N.C.
5 p.m.
Millersville University
vs
Mount Olive
No. 10 Marauders Clash with No. 2 Mount Olive in NCAA Division II Championship
5/25/2011 4:20:54 PM | Baseball
Complete Game Notes
GAME INFORMATION
No. 10 Millersville (43-10) vs. No. 2 Mount Olive (45-8)
NCAA Division II Championship - Saturday, May 28 - 5 p.m.
USA Baseball Complex - Cary, N.C.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Audio Broadcast (MSBN)
Live Stats
MSBN Blog
Live Video
TICKET INFORMATION
· Buy Now
· All-Session Passes: $30
· Single Game Tickets: $10 Adults, $5 Seniors/Students
(All tickets are general admission and available at the gate)
SERIES INFORMATION
Millersville vs. Mount Olive: First Meeting
ABOUT THE GAME
• No. 10 Millersville makes its first appearance in the NCAA Division II Championship since 1998 on Saturday against 2008 national champion and No. 2-ranked Mount Olive. It's just the second time in school history that the Marauders have made an appearance in the championships. Mount Olive, the Southeast Regional champ, has 10 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1996 but the only NCAA Championship appearance was the year it won it all.
• The odds are stacked against the Marauders. Millersville is 1-2 all-time at the championship, and no team from the PSAC has ever won a national title. Only Mansfield in 1992 reached the title game. The PSAC is 13-40 all-time in the championship. The representative failed to win a single game in 10 of 20 appearances. Since Mansfield's title game appearance, no PSAC team has won more than one game.
• With a 43-10 record, Millersville is just two wins shy of tying the 2000 team for the most wins in a season. The 2000 club went 45-18 but lost in the NCAA North Atlantic Regional championship game to Slippery Rock. Millersville won the PSAC East (19-5) for the second time in four seasons under head coach Jon Shehan. It also reached uncharted territory in the polls this year. The No. 8 ranking in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll at the conclusion of the regular season was the highest in school history. The team also reached a high of No. 6 in the NCBWA Top 25.
• Millersville faces a daunting task in the opening round as it will likely face Mount Olive starter Carter Capps, who was recently named Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player and is a Tino Martinez Award finalist. Capps is 14-0 this year and 24-0 in his career, setting a NCAA record for consecutive victories. He was the Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Year and Southeast Region Pitcher of the Year by two organizations. His numbers are staggering. He owns a 1.37 ERA in 111.1 innings pitched. His WHIP is .783, and he averages well over a strikeout per inning. The team's 2.76 team ERA is 10th best.
• Mount Olive boasts an incredibly potent offense, too. The team's 8.3 runs per game is seventh in Division II. Mount Olive's .345 batting average is third nationally. Designated hitter Mike Knox is one of the top sluggers in Division II. His 1.04 walks per game is tops in the nation, and he ranks second in homers with 22 and third in slugging percentage at .861. Third baseman Jacob Rogers ranks 13th in batting average at .427. Both Knox and Rogers are among the naton's leaders in on base percentage. Knox is 14th at .525 and Rogers is 15th at .522. Jason Simone ranks second in doubles per game, and Rogers is seventh in the same category. The Spartans have outscored opponents 442-185.
THE LAST TIME OUT
• Millersville played a near perfect game in the field and at the plate Monday at Clipper Magazine Stadium. With 14 runs on 20 hits and a handful of spectacular defensive plays, the Marauders rolled to its first NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship since 1998 with a 14-3 win over Mercyhurst. Senior Derek Kline starred on the mound and at the plate. He improved to 7-2 on the season after allowing three runs in six innings. The Millersville career leader in hits, doubles and RBIs helped his own cause by going 3-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs. Nine different players drove in at least one run and had at least one hit. Freshmen Tad Barton pitched two scoreless, hitless innings of relief and senior closer Zach Eckley slammed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
THE SERIES
• Millersville and Mount Olive baseball will meet for the first time ever on Saturday. The schools have competed just three times before in other sports, and all three meetings came in NCAA tournament play. In men's basketball, Millersville topped Mount Olive 85-81 in overtime in the opening round of the 2007 East Regional. Mount Olive won 86-78 in the first round in 2005. The women's tennis teams met in the 2000 Atlantic Regional. Millersville won 5-0.
• While the Marauders have not played Mount Olive, Millersville under Jon Shehan has some experience against the Conference Carolinas. In each of the first three years of Shehan's tenure, the Marauder played two March games against the league. Millersville went 1-5 in those games. The lone win came by a 6-2 score at Coker in 2009.
CAROLINA DREAMIN'
• Millersville regularly makes trips south during the first weeks of the season, and the Marauders are no strangers to the state of North Carolina. In 2011, Millersville played seven games in N.C., posting a 6-1 record. Under Jon Shehan, Millersville is 17-15 when playing in the state. Nearby Williamston, N.C. has become a home away from home for the Marauders. The Marauders have played there each of the last two seasons, hosted a three-team tournament in 2011 and has plans for expanding the tournament to include more teams in 2012. Millersville posted a 6-0 record and outscored its opponents 79-2 in games played in Williamston.
WHAT A CAREER
• Derek Kline will most likely be remembered as the best baseball player in Millersville history. The first baseman/pitcher is a three-time All-PSAC East selection, the 2008 PSAC East Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-Atlantic Region selection. This year, he was the Daktronics and ABCA All-Atlantic Region First Team pick at first base. He has a chance to be the first Marauder to ever play 200 career games, and he is the all-time leader in at-bats, hits, RBIs, doubles, total bases and put-outs. He is just one extra base shy of tying Millersville Athletic Hall of Famer Ryan Brink for that record, too.
• Kline started his career at Shippensburg University, and after redshirting in 2007, he was cut from the team. He transferred to Millersville and immediately won the league's rookie of the year honors. On April 15, Kline exacted a measure of revenge against his former club when he set Millersville's career hits record in a 13-5 win over Shippensburg. He also started the game on the mound and earned the win.
• A rarity in college baseball, Kline is not only a slugger but a starting pitcher against conference opponents. Kline has twice been named PSAC East Pitcher of the Week. He won the award on May 2, 2011 when he out-dueled the naton's ERA leader, Jeremy Gigliotti, for a 1-0 win. The victory clinched the PSAC East title for Millersville. In three seasons on the mound, Kline owns a 3.46 ERA in 145.2 innings pitched. He has a 13-10 career record and was the winning pitcher for the 2011 Atlantic Regional Championship clincher. He allowed three runs in six innings.
DRAFT PICKS
• There will be plenty of talent MLB Draft caliber talent on the field this week in Cary, and Millersville has a pair of players that have previously had their names called. In 2009, Derek Kline was selected in the 34th round by the Detroit Tigers as a pitcher. The then-redshirt sophomore decided not to sign and has since nearly every offensive record in Millersville history. The 2009 season was Kline's first as a pitcher, and he went 3-3 with a 2.87 ERA and three complete games in six starts.
• Freshman right-hander Tad Barton was picked out of Muhlenberg High School by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 49th round of the 2010 draft. He did not sign and came to Millersville where he had an outstanding first year. He posted a 6-0 record and a 3.15 ERA in 40.0 innings. His 0.85 strikeouts per inning are best in the team.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• The entire Millersville team contributed to the 43 wins in 2011, and evidence of that are the four different players that won player of the week awards. Junior pitcher Brooks Rothschild won PSAC East Pitcher of the Week twice in March.
• On April 4, Zach Stone became the first Marauder to win the player of the week award since March of 2008. In a four-game series against Kutztown, he batted .500 (7-of-14) and drove in an incredible 10 runs—an average of 2.5 per game.
• Two weeks later, senior outfielder Corey Phelan won the award for the first time in his career. In a six-game stretch, he went 10-for-19, recorded at least one hit in five games, and had four multi-hit games. He also swiped two bases in two tries and did not strike out in 20 plate appearances.
• Derek Kline became Millersville's second pitcher to win the award on May 2. He was named NCBWA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Week the following day.
CAN'T STRIKE 'EM OUT
• Zach Stone is among the toughest in the country to sit down on strikes. In 53 games and 173 at bats, Stone has struck out just 10 times. His 17.3 at bat per strikeout average is 19th in Division II. He has not struck out more than once in any game and has struck out in back-to-back games just once. Since March 20--a span of 35 games and 114 at bats--Stone has struck out just four times. From April 17-May 11, he went 12 games without a strikeout.
• Ryan McCormick and Mike August are also tough to punch out. August has just 16 strikeouts in 185 at bats, and McCormick has fanned just 14 times in 178 at bats.
STONE A SURPRISE
• Zach Stone walked on to the Millersville squad in 2010 and redshirted. Entering 2011, he was in a battle with incoming freshman Tyler McDonald for the starting job at third base. Stone eventually won the job and has delivered one of the best rookie seasons in Millersville history. His .358 batting average is second on the team, and he leads the team and is tied for second in the PSAC in RBIs. He was one of the favorites for PSAC East Rookie of the Year, but was somehow left off the all-league teams despite hitting 66 points higher and driving in 12 more runs than the first team pick and 36 points higher and 15 more RBIs than the second team pick.
• Stone was named Daktronics All-Atlantic Region Second Team. His .944 fielding percentage was among the best in the PSAC for third basemen, and he was an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove First Team selection.
• He has only continued to produce in the postseason. In eight postseason games, Stone is hitting .393 with six doubles, six RBIs and a .513 on base percentage.
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR OPPORTUNITY
• Junior catcher Mike Perez came to Millersville from Anne Arundel Community College with a reputation as a slugger. He hit .435 with 11 homers in the JUCO ranks. For much of the 2011 season, though, he was stuck behind designated hitter/first baseman Carlos Medina and catcher Ryan Chesler on the depth chart. Prior to the NCAA regional, Perez had just 11 games and eight starts to his credit. He started four games at catcher and the rest at DH.
GAME INFORMATION
No. 10 Millersville (43-10) vs. No. 2 Mount Olive (45-8)
NCAA Division II Championship - Saturday, May 28 - 5 p.m.
USA Baseball Complex - Cary, N.C.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Audio Broadcast (MSBN)
Live Stats
MSBN Blog
Live Video
TICKET INFORMATION
· Buy Now
· All-Session Passes: $30
· Single Game Tickets: $10 Adults, $5 Seniors/Students
(All tickets are general admission and available at the gate)
SERIES INFORMATION
Millersville vs. Mount Olive: First Meeting
ABOUT THE GAME
• No. 10 Millersville makes its first appearance in the NCAA Division II Championship since 1998 on Saturday against 2008 national champion and No. 2-ranked Mount Olive. It's just the second time in school history that the Marauders have made an appearance in the championships. Mount Olive, the Southeast Regional champ, has 10 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1996 but the only NCAA Championship appearance was the year it won it all.
• The odds are stacked against the Marauders. Millersville is 1-2 all-time at the championship, and no team from the PSAC has ever won a national title. Only Mansfield in 1992 reached the title game. The PSAC is 13-40 all-time in the championship. The representative failed to win a single game in 10 of 20 appearances. Since Mansfield's title game appearance, no PSAC team has won more than one game.
• With a 43-10 record, Millersville is just two wins shy of tying the 2000 team for the most wins in a season. The 2000 club went 45-18 but lost in the NCAA North Atlantic Regional championship game to Slippery Rock. Millersville won the PSAC East (19-5) for the second time in four seasons under head coach Jon Shehan. It also reached uncharted territory in the polls this year. The No. 8 ranking in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll at the conclusion of the regular season was the highest in school history. The team also reached a high of No. 6 in the NCBWA Top 25.
• Millersville faces a daunting task in the opening round as it will likely face Mount Olive starter Carter Capps, who was recently named Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player and is a Tino Martinez Award finalist. Capps is 14-0 this year and 24-0 in his career, setting a NCAA record for consecutive victories. He was the Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Year and Southeast Region Pitcher of the Year by two organizations. His numbers are staggering. He owns a 1.37 ERA in 111.1 innings pitched. His WHIP is .783, and he averages well over a strikeout per inning. The team's 2.76 team ERA is 10th best.
• Mount Olive boasts an incredibly potent offense, too. The team's 8.3 runs per game is seventh in Division II. Mount Olive's .345 batting average is third nationally. Designated hitter Mike Knox is one of the top sluggers in Division II. His 1.04 walks per game is tops in the nation, and he ranks second in homers with 22 and third in slugging percentage at .861. Third baseman Jacob Rogers ranks 13th in batting average at .427. Both Knox and Rogers are among the naton's leaders in on base percentage. Knox is 14th at .525 and Rogers is 15th at .522. Jason Simone ranks second in doubles per game, and Rogers is seventh in the same category. The Spartans have outscored opponents 442-185.
THE LAST TIME OUT
• Millersville played a near perfect game in the field and at the plate Monday at Clipper Magazine Stadium. With 14 runs on 20 hits and a handful of spectacular defensive plays, the Marauders rolled to its first NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship since 1998 with a 14-3 win over Mercyhurst. Senior Derek Kline starred on the mound and at the plate. He improved to 7-2 on the season after allowing three runs in six innings. The Millersville career leader in hits, doubles and RBIs helped his own cause by going 3-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs. Nine different players drove in at least one run and had at least one hit. Freshmen Tad Barton pitched two scoreless, hitless innings of relief and senior closer Zach Eckley slammed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
THE SERIES
• Millersville and Mount Olive baseball will meet for the first time ever on Saturday. The schools have competed just three times before in other sports, and all three meetings came in NCAA tournament play. In men's basketball, Millersville topped Mount Olive 85-81 in overtime in the opening round of the 2007 East Regional. Mount Olive won 86-78 in the first round in 2005. The women's tennis teams met in the 2000 Atlantic Regional. Millersville won 5-0.
• While the Marauders have not played Mount Olive, Millersville under Jon Shehan has some experience against the Conference Carolinas. In each of the first three years of Shehan's tenure, the Marauder played two March games against the league. Millersville went 1-5 in those games. The lone win came by a 6-2 score at Coker in 2009.
CAROLINA DREAMIN'
• Millersville regularly makes trips south during the first weeks of the season, and the Marauders are no strangers to the state of North Carolina. In 2011, Millersville played seven games in N.C., posting a 6-1 record. Under Jon Shehan, Millersville is 17-15 when playing in the state. Nearby Williamston, N.C. has become a home away from home for the Marauders. The Marauders have played there each of the last two seasons, hosted a three-team tournament in 2011 and has plans for expanding the tournament to include more teams in 2012. Millersville posted a 6-0 record and outscored its opponents 79-2 in games played in Williamston.
WHAT A CAREER
• Derek Kline will most likely be remembered as the best baseball player in Millersville history. The first baseman/pitcher is a three-time All-PSAC East selection, the 2008 PSAC East Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-Atlantic Region selection. This year, he was the Daktronics and ABCA All-Atlantic Region First Team pick at first base. He has a chance to be the first Marauder to ever play 200 career games, and he is the all-time leader in at-bats, hits, RBIs, doubles, total bases and put-outs. He is just one extra base shy of tying Millersville Athletic Hall of Famer Ryan Brink for that record, too.
• Kline started his career at Shippensburg University, and after redshirting in 2007, he was cut from the team. He transferred to Millersville and immediately won the league's rookie of the year honors. On April 15, Kline exacted a measure of revenge against his former club when he set Millersville's career hits record in a 13-5 win over Shippensburg. He also started the game on the mound and earned the win.
• A rarity in college baseball, Kline is not only a slugger but a starting pitcher against conference opponents. Kline has twice been named PSAC East Pitcher of the Week. He won the award on May 2, 2011 when he out-dueled the naton's ERA leader, Jeremy Gigliotti, for a 1-0 win. The victory clinched the PSAC East title for Millersville. In three seasons on the mound, Kline owns a 3.46 ERA in 145.2 innings pitched. He has a 13-10 career record and was the winning pitcher for the 2011 Atlantic Regional Championship clincher. He allowed three runs in six innings.
DRAFT PICKS
• There will be plenty of talent MLB Draft caliber talent on the field this week in Cary, and Millersville has a pair of players that have previously had their names called. In 2009, Derek Kline was selected in the 34th round by the Detroit Tigers as a pitcher. The then-redshirt sophomore decided not to sign and has since nearly every offensive record in Millersville history. The 2009 season was Kline's first as a pitcher, and he went 3-3 with a 2.87 ERA and three complete games in six starts.
• Freshman right-hander Tad Barton was picked out of Muhlenberg High School by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 49th round of the 2010 draft. He did not sign and came to Millersville where he had an outstanding first year. He posted a 6-0 record and a 3.15 ERA in 40.0 innings. His 0.85 strikeouts per inning are best in the team.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• The entire Millersville team contributed to the 43 wins in 2011, and evidence of that are the four different players that won player of the week awards. Junior pitcher Brooks Rothschild won PSAC East Pitcher of the Week twice in March.
• On April 4, Zach Stone became the first Marauder to win the player of the week award since March of 2008. In a four-game series against Kutztown, he batted .500 (7-of-14) and drove in an incredible 10 runs—an average of 2.5 per game.
• Two weeks later, senior outfielder Corey Phelan won the award for the first time in his career. In a six-game stretch, he went 10-for-19, recorded at least one hit in five games, and had four multi-hit games. He also swiped two bases in two tries and did not strike out in 20 plate appearances.
• Derek Kline became Millersville's second pitcher to win the award on May 2. He was named NCBWA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Week the following day.
CAN'T STRIKE 'EM OUT
• Zach Stone is among the toughest in the country to sit down on strikes. In 53 games and 173 at bats, Stone has struck out just 10 times. His 17.3 at bat per strikeout average is 19th in Division II. He has not struck out more than once in any game and has struck out in back-to-back games just once. Since March 20--a span of 35 games and 114 at bats--Stone has struck out just four times. From April 17-May 11, he went 12 games without a strikeout.
• Ryan McCormick and Mike August are also tough to punch out. August has just 16 strikeouts in 185 at bats, and McCormick has fanned just 14 times in 178 at bats.
STONE A SURPRISE
• Zach Stone walked on to the Millersville squad in 2010 and redshirted. Entering 2011, he was in a battle with incoming freshman Tyler McDonald for the starting job at third base. Stone eventually won the job and has delivered one of the best rookie seasons in Millersville history. His .358 batting average is second on the team, and he leads the team and is tied for second in the PSAC in RBIs. He was one of the favorites for PSAC East Rookie of the Year, but was somehow left off the all-league teams despite hitting 66 points higher and driving in 12 more runs than the first team pick and 36 points higher and 15 more RBIs than the second team pick.
• Stone was named Daktronics All-Atlantic Region Second Team. His .944 fielding percentage was among the best in the PSAC for third basemen, and he was an ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove First Team selection.
• He has only continued to produce in the postseason. In eight postseason games, Stone is hitting .393 with six doubles, six RBIs and a .513 on base percentage.
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR OPPORTUNITY
• Junior catcher Mike Perez came to Millersville from Anne Arundel Community College with a reputation as a slugger. He hit .435 with 11 homers in the JUCO ranks. For much of the 2011 season, though, he was stuck behind designated hitter/first baseman Carlos Medina and catcher Ryan Chesler on the depth chart. Prior to the NCAA regional, Perez had just 11 games and eight starts to his credit. He started four games at catcher and the rest at DH.
• In the second game of the Atlantic Regional against Seton Hill, Perez was inserted into the lineup at DH. He went 1-for-3 with a RBI double in the game, and he remained the lineup throughout the tournament. He started the next game at catcher and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. In the title game, he made his first start of the season at first base and went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, a walk, a double, three runs and Millersville's only home run of the regional.
• In three regional starts, Perez went 6-for-11 with six RBIs.
CATCHER CATCHING FIRE
• Catcher Ryan Chesler hit .324 in 2010, but for much of 2011, the redshirt sophomore struggled at the plate. After the first 20 games, Chesler was hitting .175 with 14 strikeouts in 57 at bats. On April 2, Chesler's season turned around. He went 4-for-8 with two RBIs and two doubles in a sweep of Kutztown. In his last 29 games, Chesler has hit .326 and posted a .410 on base percentage. His .533 slugging percentage and 13 doubles are second on the team during that stretch.
• Since the start of the PSAC Tournament, Chesler has hit a team-leading .407 (11-for-27) in eight games. He's reached base at a .484 clip, drove in five runs and smacked four doubles.
POWER SURGE
• Much of the talk in college baseball circles this year revolved around how the new bats have affected power numbers. The bats haven't made a difference to the Marauders as they led the PSAC in home runs with 33--nine more than the No. 2 team. Jeff Heisey (7) and Derek Kline (7) were both ranked in the top five in home runs. From 2010 to 2011, Millersville's home run numbers jumped by 10.
SEASON FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
• Junior pitcher Brooks Rothschild is on the verge of setting a pair of long-standing Millersville records. The team's workhorse has thrown a 79.1 innings--19.1 more than any other pitcher on the team--and is just one inning shy of tying Jay Dimler's record for innings pitched in a season that was set in 1988.
• Rothschild led the PSAC in victories with a 10-1 record and is tied with Timm Bromirski (1999) for the most wins in a season. He's also just one complete game from tying the single season record.
• Rothschild also inserted his name into the PSAC record books earlier this season. On March 12, he pitched three innings of relief to set a new PSAC mark for scoreless innings pitched at 27.0. The previous record was set by Clarion's Brad Frazier in 1992. It took nearly 20 years for someone to break Frazier's record, but Rothschild's mark stood only one week. East Stroudsburg's Jeremy Gigliotti set a new mark at 27.2.
• Rothschild was named All-Atlantic Region Second Team by the NCBWA, Daktronics and ABCA. He was an All-PSAC East First Team selection and a two-time PSAC East Pitcher of the Week.
LEFT SIDE, STRONG SIDE
• First-year Marauders Mike August and Zach Stone have shored up the left side of the infield for Millersville. The duo ranks first and second on the team in average, doubles, runs and RBIs. They've combined for .940 fielding percentage, .372 batting average and 88 RBIs. In the previous two seasons combined, Millersville's third baseman and shortstop produced a .918 fielding percentage, .250 batting average and 71 RBIs.
• Both players were named ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic Region Glove Glove First Team.
MAJOR TURNAROUND
• Fifth-year seniors Corey Phelan and Scott Stevens have witnessed an incredible turnaround during their careers. As freshmen in 2007, the duo endured a 9-37 record. Since 2008, though, the Marauders have won 113 games. As seniors, Phelan and Stevens helped the team completely reverse their freshmen year record. Millersville posted a 37-8 record in the regular season.
COMEBACK PLAYER
• If Division II handed out a Comeback Player of the Year Award, junior pitcher Mike McMonagle would surely be one of the frontrunners. McMonagle posted an uninspiring 10.88 ERA in 15 appearances as a freshman. He threw just 0.2 innings in 2009 before undergoing Tommy John Surgery. He tossed just 4.2 innings in 2010 before being shut down.
• In 2011, he has been maybe Millersville's best starter. He was named ABCA All-Atlantic Region First Team, All-PSAC East Second Team and NCBWA All-Atlantic Region Third Team after posting a 6-1 record and 1.81 ERA in the regular season. In two postseason starts, McMonagle is 2-0 with with a 2.51 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched. He's also struck out 12 and walked just six while allowing opponents to hit .204.
BRIGHT FUTURE
• Millersville won't be going away anytime soon under Coach Jon Shehan. The 2011 club has just five seniors and nine position starters and pitchers are first or second year players. Of Millersville's top seven hitters, four are in their first or second years at the Division II level.
• On the mound, freshmen Tim Mayza, Tad Barton and Adam Zipko and sophomore Brian Black all made significant contributions. Mayza logged 11 starts and posted a 6-3 record with a 3.75 ERA in 60.0 innings. In two postseason starts, Mayza owns the team's best ERA at 2.08. He threw 7.0 shutout innings against Mercyhurst in the PSAC Tournament and then threw six innings innings against Mercyhurst in the regional.
• Mayza allowed more than three runs just once in 11 starts and struck out at least four in five starts. Incredibly, Mayza has allowed only five extra base hits all season. He surrendered only one home run, and since then, he has thrown 28 innings without allowing an extra base hit.
• Barton and Zipko have combined to throw 12.2 scoreless innings of relief in the postseason. Barton allowed only one hit and one walk while striking out four in his five innings of work.
WHEN IT MATTERS MOST
• Millersville ranked fourth in the PSAC in batting average but scored 25 more runs than any other team in the conference and totaled 29 more RBIs than the No. 2 team. Millersville's offense produces at a high rate with runners in scoring position, hitting .330--25 points higher than the overall team average. Mike August is 31-for-66 (.470) with runners in scoring position, and Chris Edgar is also hitting over .400 with a .410 average. The Marauders also have a knack for scoring with two outs. The team has scored 126 two-out runs this year while its opponents have managed just 52.
QUICK STARTERS, STRONG FINISHERS
• Millersville is a fast-starting team, and when it gets the lead, it almost never surrenders it. The Marauders have outscored opponents 59-29 in the first inning and 235-74 over the first four innings. That's an average of 4.43-1.40 per game.
• When leading after the sixth inning, the Marauders are 42-1. It's only loss came in the PSAC Tournament when Mercyhurst scored two runs in the ninth and won in 12 innings. In nine inning games, the Marauders are 14-1 when leading after eight.
• The late-inning lockdown is all about the bullpen. Senior closer Zach Eckley led the PSAC in saves in each of the last two years, and in the last two seasons, he's converted 14-of-15 save opportunities. Set-up man Jason Long is a converted starter that has found his niche. In 23.2 innings and 17 appearances this year, the lefty owns a 2-0 record and 1.90 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .163 against him.
GETTING STARTED
• Not many leadoff hitters at the NCAA Championship have a .225 batting average. Millersville's Ryan McCormick does, but he's still incredibly effective. The senior boasts a .398 on base percentage. His 37 walks are second in the PSAC and just three shy of Millersville's single-season record. He's also been hit by a pitch 17 times, which ranks second in the PSAC.
• When leading off an inning, McCormick has reached base in 42 in 87 plate appearances, an average of .483.
• McCormick also leads the PSAC in stolen bases with 30 in 33 attempts. It's the most steals by a Marauder in more than a decade.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Much of Millersville's success can be credited to its air-tight defense. The Marauders led Division II in fielding percentage (.979). The team went error-free in 26 games this year, and committed more than one error just eight times.
• Four Millersville players were named to the ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic Region Gold Glove First Team: Zach Stone (third base), Ryan McCormick (second base), Corey Phelan (outfield) and Brooks Rothschild (pitcher). Phelan was also named to the team in 2008.
EXTRAS FOR AUGUST
• With 20 doubles, Mike August ranks second in the PSAC in doubles and is just three short of the Millersville single-season record held by now Millersville head coach Jon Shehan.
TAKING ON THE TOP
• Millersville is no stranger to taking on nationally-ranked teams. The Marauders have played eight games against teams that were nationally ranked in 2011. They went 5-3 in those games with two losses to North Georgia in the opening series of the season and a loss to Mercyhurst in the conference playoffs.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
• Millersville head coach Jon Shehan has plenty of ties to University. He is a 2006 graduate and was a four-year player for the Marauder baseball team. His wife Lindsey graduated from Millersville in 2004. His father, Gerry, is a long-time employee of the University. To further the family connection, Shehan added his brother Chris to the coaching staff prior to the 2011 season. Chris spent three years in the Atlanta Braves organization after a standout career at Georgia Southern. In college, he was named Baseball America First Team All-America for hitting .438 with 22 homers, 77 RBIs, a .557 OBP and 22 steals in 24 attempts. He led all Southern Conference hitters in batting average, on base percentage, runs scored and hits and ranked second in slugging percentage, total bases and walks.
• In three regional starts, Perez went 6-for-11 with six RBIs.
CATCHER CATCHING FIRE
• Catcher Ryan Chesler hit .324 in 2010, but for much of 2011, the redshirt sophomore struggled at the plate. After the first 20 games, Chesler was hitting .175 with 14 strikeouts in 57 at bats. On April 2, Chesler's season turned around. He went 4-for-8 with two RBIs and two doubles in a sweep of Kutztown. In his last 29 games, Chesler has hit .326 and posted a .410 on base percentage. His .533 slugging percentage and 13 doubles are second on the team during that stretch.
• Since the start of the PSAC Tournament, Chesler has hit a team-leading .407 (11-for-27) in eight games. He's reached base at a .484 clip, drove in five runs and smacked four doubles.
POWER SURGE
• Much of the talk in college baseball circles this year revolved around how the new bats have affected power numbers. The bats haven't made a difference to the Marauders as they led the PSAC in home runs with 33--nine more than the No. 2 team. Jeff Heisey (7) and Derek Kline (7) were both ranked in the top five in home runs. From 2010 to 2011, Millersville's home run numbers jumped by 10.
SEASON FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
• Junior pitcher Brooks Rothschild is on the verge of setting a pair of long-standing Millersville records. The team's workhorse has thrown a 79.1 innings--19.1 more than any other pitcher on the team--and is just one inning shy of tying Jay Dimler's record for innings pitched in a season that was set in 1988.
• Rothschild led the PSAC in victories with a 10-1 record and is tied with Timm Bromirski (1999) for the most wins in a season. He's also just one complete game from tying the single season record.
• Rothschild also inserted his name into the PSAC record books earlier this season. On March 12, he pitched three innings of relief to set a new PSAC mark for scoreless innings pitched at 27.0. The previous record was set by Clarion's Brad Frazier in 1992. It took nearly 20 years for someone to break Frazier's record, but Rothschild's mark stood only one week. East Stroudsburg's Jeremy Gigliotti set a new mark at 27.2.
• Rothschild was named All-Atlantic Region Second Team by the NCBWA, Daktronics and ABCA. He was an All-PSAC East First Team selection and a two-time PSAC East Pitcher of the Week.
LEFT SIDE, STRONG SIDE
• First-year Marauders Mike August and Zach Stone have shored up the left side of the infield for Millersville. The duo ranks first and second on the team in average, doubles, runs and RBIs. They've combined for .940 fielding percentage, .372 batting average and 88 RBIs. In the previous two seasons combined, Millersville's third baseman and shortstop produced a .918 fielding percentage, .250 batting average and 71 RBIs.
• Both players were named ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic Region Glove Glove First Team.
MAJOR TURNAROUND
• Fifth-year seniors Corey Phelan and Scott Stevens have witnessed an incredible turnaround during their careers. As freshmen in 2007, the duo endured a 9-37 record. Since 2008, though, the Marauders have won 113 games. As seniors, Phelan and Stevens helped the team completely reverse their freshmen year record. Millersville posted a 37-8 record in the regular season.
COMEBACK PLAYER
• If Division II handed out a Comeback Player of the Year Award, junior pitcher Mike McMonagle would surely be one of the frontrunners. McMonagle posted an uninspiring 10.88 ERA in 15 appearances as a freshman. He threw just 0.2 innings in 2009 before undergoing Tommy John Surgery. He tossed just 4.2 innings in 2010 before being shut down.
• In 2011, he has been maybe Millersville's best starter. He was named ABCA All-Atlantic Region First Team, All-PSAC East Second Team and NCBWA All-Atlantic Region Third Team after posting a 6-1 record and 1.81 ERA in the regular season. In two postseason starts, McMonagle is 2-0 with with a 2.51 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched. He's also struck out 12 and walked just six while allowing opponents to hit .204.
BRIGHT FUTURE
• Millersville won't be going away anytime soon under Coach Jon Shehan. The 2011 club has just five seniors and nine position starters and pitchers are first or second year players. Of Millersville's top seven hitters, four are in their first or second years at the Division II level.
• On the mound, freshmen Tim Mayza, Tad Barton and Adam Zipko and sophomore Brian Black all made significant contributions. Mayza logged 11 starts and posted a 6-3 record with a 3.75 ERA in 60.0 innings. In two postseason starts, Mayza owns the team's best ERA at 2.08. He threw 7.0 shutout innings against Mercyhurst in the PSAC Tournament and then threw six innings innings against Mercyhurst in the regional.
• Mayza allowed more than three runs just once in 11 starts and struck out at least four in five starts. Incredibly, Mayza has allowed only five extra base hits all season. He surrendered only one home run, and since then, he has thrown 28 innings without allowing an extra base hit.
• Barton and Zipko have combined to throw 12.2 scoreless innings of relief in the postseason. Barton allowed only one hit and one walk while striking out four in his five innings of work.
WHEN IT MATTERS MOST
• Millersville ranked fourth in the PSAC in batting average but scored 25 more runs than any other team in the conference and totaled 29 more RBIs than the No. 2 team. Millersville's offense produces at a high rate with runners in scoring position, hitting .330--25 points higher than the overall team average. Mike August is 31-for-66 (.470) with runners in scoring position, and Chris Edgar is also hitting over .400 with a .410 average. The Marauders also have a knack for scoring with two outs. The team has scored 126 two-out runs this year while its opponents have managed just 52.
QUICK STARTERS, STRONG FINISHERS
• Millersville is a fast-starting team, and when it gets the lead, it almost never surrenders it. The Marauders have outscored opponents 59-29 in the first inning and 235-74 over the first four innings. That's an average of 4.43-1.40 per game.
• When leading after the sixth inning, the Marauders are 42-1. It's only loss came in the PSAC Tournament when Mercyhurst scored two runs in the ninth and won in 12 innings. In nine inning games, the Marauders are 14-1 when leading after eight.
• The late-inning lockdown is all about the bullpen. Senior closer Zach Eckley led the PSAC in saves in each of the last two years, and in the last two seasons, he's converted 14-of-15 save opportunities. Set-up man Jason Long is a converted starter that has found his niche. In 23.2 innings and 17 appearances this year, the lefty owns a 2-0 record and 1.90 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .163 against him.
GETTING STARTED
• Not many leadoff hitters at the NCAA Championship have a .225 batting average. Millersville's Ryan McCormick does, but he's still incredibly effective. The senior boasts a .398 on base percentage. His 37 walks are second in the PSAC and just three shy of Millersville's single-season record. He's also been hit by a pitch 17 times, which ranks second in the PSAC.
• When leading off an inning, McCormick has reached base in 42 in 87 plate appearances, an average of .483.
• McCormick also leads the PSAC in stolen bases with 30 in 33 attempts. It's the most steals by a Marauder in more than a decade.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Much of Millersville's success can be credited to its air-tight defense. The Marauders led Division II in fielding percentage (.979). The team went error-free in 26 games this year, and committed more than one error just eight times.
• Four Millersville players were named to the ABCA/Rawlings Atlantic Region Gold Glove First Team: Zach Stone (third base), Ryan McCormick (second base), Corey Phelan (outfield) and Brooks Rothschild (pitcher). Phelan was also named to the team in 2008.
EXTRAS FOR AUGUST
• With 20 doubles, Mike August ranks second in the PSAC in doubles and is just three short of the Millersville single-season record held by now Millersville head coach Jon Shehan.
TAKING ON THE TOP
• Millersville is no stranger to taking on nationally-ranked teams. The Marauders have played eight games against teams that were nationally ranked in 2011. They went 5-3 in those games with two losses to North Georgia in the opening series of the season and a loss to Mercyhurst in the conference playoffs.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
• Millersville head coach Jon Shehan has plenty of ties to University. He is a 2006 graduate and was a four-year player for the Marauder baseball team. His wife Lindsey graduated from Millersville in 2004. His father, Gerry, is a long-time employee of the University. To further the family connection, Shehan added his brother Chris to the coaching staff prior to the 2011 season. Chris spent three years in the Atlanta Braves organization after a standout career at Georgia Southern. In college, he was named Baseball America First Team All-America for hitting .438 with 22 homers, 77 RBIs, a .557 OBP and 22 steals in 24 attempts. He led all Southern Conference hitters in batting average, on base percentage, runs scored and hits and ranked second in slugging percentage, total bases and walks.
Highlights: Millersville Baseball NCAA Atlantic Regional vs. Seton Hill [DH] (May 17, 2025)
Saturday, May 17
Highlights: Millersville Baseball NCAA Atlantic Regional vs. Seton Hill (May 16, 2025)
Friday, May 16
Highlights: Millersville Baseball NCAA Atlantic Regional vs. California (Pa.) (May 15, 2025)
Thursday, May 15
Highlights: Millersville Baseball PSAC Tournament Championship vs. Cal U(May 10, 2025)
Sunday, May 11
