Complete Game Notes

GAME INFORMATION
No. 23 Millersville (36-14/No. 1 seed) vs. Kutztown (30-19/No. 6 seed)
NCAA Atlantic Regional - Thursday, May 15 - 3:30 p.m.
Owls Field, West Lawn, Pa. | Directions
Tournament Website | Bracket | NCAA Digital Program

MEDIA INFORMATION
Audio Broadcast (MSBN)
Live Stats
Twitter: @MarauderNews | @MSBN_Kuhns | @CoachShehan

TICKET INFORMATION
· Students/Senior: $5
· Adult Daily: $10
· Tournament Pass Student/Senior*: $15
· Tournament Pass Adult*: $30
*Tournament passes available only on the first day of the tournament

SERIES INFORMATION
Kutztown leads 96-90 (.514) (since 1957)
Jon Shehan vs. Kutztown: 17-13
Chris Blum vs. Millersville: 34-20
First Meeting (since 1957): 1957 (L, 2-8)
Postseason Meetings: Kutztown leads, 3-0

TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW
•    Millersville qualified for just two NCAA Tournaments from the foundation of the tournament in 1968 to 2010. Now, the Marauders are making their third appearance in the last four years and have been the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Regional in each of those three seasons. Jon Shehan becomes the first coach in program history to lead a team to three NCAA Tournament appearances. Millersville won the regional in 1998 and most recently in 2011. It is 13-9 all-time in regional play and a perfect 4-0 in opening round games. Millersville has also won at least two games in each of its four previous appearances.
•    Five of the six teams in the regional are in familiar territory. Mercyhurst is making its third appearance since 2009. Seton Hill and Winston-Salem State are in the field for the fourth consecutive year. Kutztown has played in the regional 13 times in the last 16 years with four regional championships. The most recent title came in 2010.
•    Millersville and Kutztown are PSAC East rivals that meet at least four times each season. Thursday's first round match-up is also a rematch of the PSAC Championship game that Kutztown won by a 1-0 score. Millersville out-hit the Golden Bears 7-3 and had at least one runner on base in eight of the nine innings. Kutztown's lone run off of Tad Barton came in the third on a Brandon Martinez sacrifice fly. Brandon Shimo--the tournament MVP--kept Millersville off the board with a seven strikeouts to one walk. Shehan is 17-13 against Kutztown since taking over the program in 2008. Kutztown's Chris Blum was 17-3 against Millersville before Shehan arrived.
•    Kutztown holds a 3-2 lead in the season series but has not scored more than three runs in any of the five games. Kutztown won the first game of both regular season doubleheaders this season. With all four of the games coming in mid-week, Kutztown did not face Millersville ace Chris Murphy or freshman Brandon Miller. While Barton is 0-2 against the Golden Bears this season, he has allowed just three earned runs and 11 hits in 14 innings with a 1.93 ERA and .234 average against. At the plate, Dan Johnson is 8-for-18 (.444) with seven RBIs. Chas McCormick is 7-for-16 (.438), Kurt Seiders is 5-for-12 (.417), Tyler Orris is 7-for-18 (.389) and Zach Stone is 6-for-17 (.353). All other Marauders have combined for 10 hits in 62 at bats.
•    Kutztown has also kept the Marauders in check on the base paths. Millersville ranked second in the PSAC this season with  104 steals, but the Marauders are just 3-for-5 in stolen base attempts against Kutztown. Orris, who leads the team with 35 steals went 1-for-2 in the five meetings.
•    As Millersville has experienced first-hand, Kutztown owns an opportunistic offense. The Golden Bears hit just .280 as a team (14 points lower than Millersville) and have hit only three homers all year. And despite having 41 fewer hits, Kutztown has scored only two fewer runs that Millersville.

HEATING UP
•    Kurt Seiders is getting hot at the right time of the season. He is riding a six-game hitting streak in which he is hitting 11-for-23 (.478) with four multi-hit games. He went 3-for-4 with a double in the PSAC Championship game. Seiders' average has jumped from .230 to .269 during the streak. A strong finish is becoming a Seiders' trademark. In six postseason games in 2013, Seiders went 7-for-20 (.350).

STILL SEARCHING
•    Chris Murphy led the PSAC in wins for the second consecutive season and is an incredible 21-4 in 27 career starts. Murphy, however, has yet to win a postseason game. In three postseason starts, he is 0-1 with a 4.44 ERA. Murphy took a no decision in the 2014 PSAC Tournament against Slippery Rock after allowing two runs in seven innings. He threw eight no-hit innings against Gannon in the 2013 tournament but finished with five runs allowed in 8.2 innings. He took the loss against Shippensburg in the 2013 Atlantic Regional after allowing four runs on 11 hits in 6.2 innings. Still, he owns a 1.03 WHIP and has walked just two batters in those three postseason starts.

PERFECT PITCH
•    Millersville boasts one of the deepest starting staffs in the country as all five pitchers with at least three starts and 23 innings pitch boast boast ERA's of 3.07 or lower. The five starters have combined for 25 wins. Four of them have thrown at least one complete game and all five have limited opponents to batting averages of .248 or lower. The pitching staff has held teams to no more than four runs in 37 of 47 games and to two runs or fewer in 25 games. The Marauders own a 32-5 record in those games. Jim McDade, Tad Barton and Chris Murphy were a combined 13-3 against PSAC opponents this season.

MAGIC NUMBER
•    Millersville's pitchers has allowed more than four runs in just 11 of 50 games this season, and Millersville is 3-8 in those games. In games that the staff holds opponents under six, the Marauders are 33-6. The magic number for the Millersville offense is six. The Marauders are undefeated at 17-0 when scoring at least six runs.

THE QUEST FOR .400
•    Brandon Shimo and Kutztown snapped Zach Stone's 15-game hitting streak in the PSAC Championship, and his 0-for-4 performance dropped his average from .403 to .394. Stone is aiming to become the first Marauder since Jay Johnson in 1975-76 and second ever to hit over .400 in back-to-back seasons. Johnson had 115 total at bats in those seasons while Stone has 377.

KEEP IT CLOSE
•    Millersville is at its best when games are close, holding a  7-1 record in extra inning games and an 10-3 record in games decided by just one run. Kutztown handed Millersville two of those three one-run losses. The lone extra inning loss came in nine innings against Bloomsburg, and Jim McDade pitched into the ninth in that game. The Marauders also don't give up leads. They are 27-0 when holding the lead after six innings.

SENIOR MOMENT
•    This season's senior class is the first to play in four PSAC Tournaments and the first two win three PSAC East crowns. It has compiled a 145-67-1 record, making it the winningest class in Millersville history. The class has helped the team earn a national ranking for at least one week in all four seasons. It is also the first class to play in three NCAA Tournaments. Along with Zach Stone, four-year players Dan Johnson, Tad Barton and Adam Zipko all hold a spot at least one career top 10 category. Stone holds records for hits and RBIs and Barton holds the wins record. Zipko is tied for the school record in appearances (76).

ROLLING STONE
•    Zach Stone was rolling with a 15-game hitting streak until it came to an end in the PSAC Championship game. But over, the last month, Stone has been a near impossible out. On April 5, Stone's average dipped to .311. In the 21 games since, Stone has hit safely in 19 and totaled 12 multi-hit games. He is 36-for-73 (.493) with 15 RBIs and a .530 on base percentage in his last 21 games. In the PSAC Tournament, Stone was 5-for-10 until the championship game. Still, Stone accounted for nine of Millersville's 10 runs scored in the tournament, totaling five RBIs and four runs.
•    Stone is a two-time All-PSAC East First Team selection, two-time Tino Martinez Award Watch List member and three-time PSAC East Player of the week this season. Overall, he won the weekly award six times.
•    After batting .450 against the PSAC East in 2013, Stone hit .462 with 43 hits against his division foes this season.
•    Stone is money in the postseason, too. In 25 career postseason games, he's hitting .370 (34-92) with eight walks and eight hit-by-pitches.

IRON MEN
•    Zach Stone has played in a Millersville record 212 games. and has missed only three starts in his entire career, and Millersville has played only one game without him since 2011. He has started 114 consecutive games. Sophomore Tyler Orris has impressive streak of his own. The shortstop has started every one of Millersville's 108 games since stepping on campus in 2013.

TAD TO THE TOP
•    Senior Tad Barton passed Bradd Everly, Matt Wagner and Timm Bromirski as Millersville's all-time wins leader on April 12. Barton has since won two more games to push his career record to 25-10. He has thrown at least 42 innings and two complete games in each season. He owns a 13-3 career record against PSAC East opponents. In seven career postseason appearances spanning 29.2 innings, Barton is 2-3 with a 3.33 ERA and 22 hits allowed.

OLD RELIABLE
•    Adam Zipko was brilliant in the PSAC Tournament, picking up both of Millersville's wins with five shutout innings in which he allowed only one hit and struck out four. That should be no surprise, though. Zipko's consistency and reliability has been remarkable. Zipko pitched behind established closers in his first two seasons but has still totaled 19 saves, which ranks second in school history. In his career, he's struck out 84 in 117 innings while posting a 2.23 ERA and .252 batting average against. He is 7-0 this season with a .200 batting average against.
•    Zipko has made 13 postseason appearances, totaling 22.1 innings. He owns a 3-0 record with four saves and one earned run allowed, which equates to a 0.40 ERA.

ORRIS OFF AND RUNNING
•     Tyler Orris leads the PSAC with 35 stolen bases and ranks 11th nationally in steals per game. He sits third all-time behind Ernest McCoy, who swiped 36 in 1986 and 40 in 1987. Only three different Marauders have ever stolen more than 30 bags in a season. He has stolen two or more bases in nine games. A Millersville player has ranked in the PSAC's top three in steals in each of the last four seasons.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR McDADE
•    The team's No. 4 starter in 2013, Jim McDade posted a 6.85 ERA and made only one start in the postseason. This year, McDade is 6-1 and boasts a 2.74 ERA with three complete games. McDade's WHIP of 0.96 ranks third in the PSAC only to Mercyhurst's Dan Altavilla and Millersville's Chris Murphy. He ranks 24th nationally in the category. McDade also ranks 34th in Division II and third in the PSAC in hits allowed per nine innings (6.52).

MAGIC MURPHY
•    Chris Murphy recently became the first PSAC Eastern Division pitcher to be named pitcher of the year in back-to-back seasons. His nine wins boosted his two-year record to 21-4, and his 1.91 ERA is lower than it was last season when he was named Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year and All-America First Team. Murphy is the only Marauder to total nine wins in two seasons. He is only two complete games shy of the school record. He has allowed two runs or fewer in 21 of 27 career starts. He posted a streak of 24.1 consecutive scoreless innings earlier this season, making him the only pitcher in PSAC history with two streaks of at least 23 consecutive scoreless innings.
•    He was named NCBWA Division II Pitcher of the Week three times, Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Week five times and PSAC East Pitcher of the Week four times in his first 20 career starts.  

JOHNSON COMES THROUGH
•    Senior DH Dan Johnson delivered two of the biggest hits of the PSAC Tournament. Against Mercyhurst in the semifinals, he drove in the game-tying run with a double in the seventh inning and then delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth. Johnson has been hitting in the clutch all season, though. Against Kutztown on April 1, Johnson provided three hits and four timely RBIs to give Millersville a win. Also against Kutztown on April 16, he hit a walk-off single for a 3-2 win. Johnson was an All-PSAC East First Team selection as a sophomore and junior but did not receive postseason honors this season despite the fact that it was a career year by every measure. His .348 average, 14 doubles, 37 RBIs, .418 on base percentage, .488 slugging percentage and three home runs are all career highs. Johnson was named CoSIDA Academic All-District for a third time with a 3.71 GPA in mathematics.
•    The Marauders need Johnson to produce in order to win. In the team's 14 losses, Johnson is hitting .213 with a .288 on base percentage, 1 double and four RBIs. He is hitting .402 with a .467 on base percentage, 13 doubles and 33 RBIs in the 36 wins.

ORRIS A KEY
•    After a rocky start, Tyler Orris has become an important part of Millersville's lineup. In the first 14 games of the season, Orris batted 10-for-45 (.222) and Millersville was 9-5. In the 36 games since, Orris is second on the team with a .364 average and .408 on base percentage. Millersville won 27 of those 36 games. Orris is also fielding at a .971 clip in that same stretch, recording just five errors in 171 chances. Not only did Orris lead the PSAC in steals, but he also led the league in assists for the second year in a row, led all shortstops with a .963  fielding percentage, and was tops among shortstops and fourth overall in double plays turned.