Millersville, Pa. - The Millersville baseball players huddled around cell phones at the senior day dinner, anxiously watching the live stats of Saturday's West Chester/Shippensburg game. When Shippensburg's 6-3 win went final, the Marauders erupted with cheers knowing they had just clinched a third-straight PSAC Eastern Division Championship. But that celebration was only possible because the Marauders did exactly what they needed to do on Friday and Saturday against Mansfield.
Jim McDade and
Stephen Muscovitch combined for a pair of shutouts on Saturday, completing the series sweep of Mansfield with wins of 1-0 and 7-0.
Millersville completed the regular season at 38-9 overall and 22-6 in the PSAC East, scoring the most overall regular season wins by the program since 2000 and the most-ever league wins. The Marauders have won four of the last five PSAC East crowns and five since
Jon Shehan took over the program in 2008. The Marauders now charge into the PSAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed from the Eastern Division with nine consecutive wins, outscoring their opponents 96-12 in that stretch.
McDade (6-3), the game one starter and the reigning NCBWA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Week, tossed his second-straight shutout, allowing only four hits and not allowing a walk for the seventh consecutive start. He has not allowed a walk in his last 44.1 innings. Keeping Mansfield off the board was key as the Marauders uncharacteristically struggled to score. Mansfield starter Alex Covel (0-2) kept the Marauders off-balance, allowing four hits and four walks. The only Marauder run came in the third and was aided by a Mansfield error.
A.J. Hammond led off with a walk. He attempted a steal of second and was safe only because the throw was mishandled by the shortstop.
Dan Neff walked one batter later, and
Tyler Orris followed with a single to right field. Hammond chugged around third and beat the throw to the plate, giving Millersville a 1-0 lead that would stand.
McDade overcame some early adversity to throw a gem. In the top of the first, Mansfield put runners on first and second with one out, but McDade escaped with a strikeout and ground out. Mansfield put runners on the corners in the second again, but
Tyler McDonald made a nifty play at third to thwart the Mounties. McDonald had plenty of action at the hot corner, recording six assists including a bare-handed pick-up and throw-out in the third and a diving stop and throw from his knees in the fourth. The play of the game, however, went to center fielder
Dan Neff, who ended the game and robbed a sure extra-base hit from Dave Glueck when he tracked down a line drive in right-center, snaring it with a head-first dive.
Millersville managed just four singles and was held without an extra base hit for just the second time this season.
David Summerfield,
Chas McCormick and
Dan Stoltzfus accounted for the other three hits.
Millersville's bats returned to form in the nightcap. The Marauders pushed three unearned runs across in the second on a two-run single from Summerfield and a perfectly-executed squeeze play from McCormick. The lead stretched to 7-0 in the third as the Marauders put four more runs on the board. All nine batters saw at bats in the inning and six reached base. Orris drove in a run with a single and later scored on a McCormick single. Neff drove in a run and scored one as well.
Orris reached base three times and scored two times in the game.
Jeremy Musser added a single and a triple.
Muscovitch, making just his second career start, allowed two hits and struck out five while not issuing a walk. In his two starts covering nine innings, Muscovitch has struck out 10 and given up five hits and no walks.
Dylan Boisclair pitched a shutout sixth, and senior
Jesse Mowen closed his senior day with a two-strikeout seventh.
As the No. 1 seed from the East in the PSAC Tournament, Millersville will play the West's No. 4 seed California (Pa.) in Wednesday's late game. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
MSBN will provide live audio coverage.
