Millersville Baseball Claims PSAC East Title After Game One Win

Saturday, April 26

West Chester, PA

1:00 PM

Millersville University

34-12, 0

West Chester

24-17, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Millersville	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	5	12	1
West Chester	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	0

Millersville Baseball Claims PSAC East Title After Game One Win

4/26/2014 8:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

West Chester, Pa. - No. 26 Millersville entered the final doubleheader of the regular season holding a one-game lead in the PSAC Eastern Division standings. The Marauders needed just one win over West Chester to guarantee at least a share of the division crown, and they turned to none other than ace Chris Murphy. Murphy hurled his fifth complete game of the season, and the lineup manufactured enough offense to score a 5-2 victory and a third PSAC East championship in the last four years.

Millersville (34-13, 21-7 PSAC East) has now won back-to-back PSAC East titles for the first time since 1974-75 and has won four titles in seven years under Coach Jon Shehan. It gives Millersville the No. 1 seed from the PSAC East in next week's PSAC Tournament and a match-up on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. against the No. 4 seed from the Western Division.

Murphy (9-2) won for the ninth time in 11 starts despite a rocky first inning. The first three batters he faced reached base and two came home to score, but he locked down the Golden Ram offense over the final six frames. He scattered five hits while striking out five the rest of the way. The bottom third of the lineup provided the fuel to Millersville's offense. Kurt Seiders singled twice and scored two runs. Dan Neff went 2-for-4 and his two-run double in the fifth broke a 2-2 tie. David Summerfield continued an incredible stretch by recording a single and driving in the team's first run. Zach Stone stayed white-hot at the plate by going 3-for-3. Millersville out-hit West Chester by a 12-6 margin.

Trailing 2-0 in the second, Millersville received back-to-back singles from Seiders and Neff to start a rally. Both runners stole bases to move into score position, and Summerfield brought in the first run with a ground out to second base. After David Pine was hit by a pitch, Chas McCormick plated Neff with a ground out to the first baseman.

The score remained knotted until the fifth. Stone singled to start the inning and Seiders delivered a two-out hit to put runners on the corners. Neff broke the tie and drove in both runs with a double to left field. The Marauders added one more in the sixth when Dan Johnson drove in McCormick with a sacrifice fly.

While Murphy closed out West Chester in the seventh with a 5-6-3 double play, Mansfield was providing the Marauders with an assist. Bloomsburg, which trailed Millersville by one game entering the day, won its first game against Mansfield but fell by a 4-2 score in game two. That loss gave Millersville sole possession of the division championship. The game went final in the second inning of Millersville's game two.

Despite totaling 10 hits, Millersville lost game two by a 6-1 score. The Marauders stranded eight runners, and starter Brandon Miller (2-4) was victimized by three errors in the third inning. West Chester went on to score four runs in the inning. Millersville's lone run came in the seventh when freshman catcher Mitch Stoltzfus doubled in Summerfield.

Summerfield went 2-for-3 with a run, giving him eight hits in 13 at bats over his first four career starts. Stone recorded two more hits to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He has tallied at least two hits in seven of his last nine games.

Millersville's opponent for the first round of the conference tournament has not yet been determined as the majority of Western Division games were moved to Sunday. Slippery Rock and Pitt-Johnstown are jockeying for seeding with two games remaining.