GAME OVERVIEW•     Millersville baseball rolls into the PSAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed from the PSAC East with a nine-game winning streak. The Marauders outscored their opponents 96-13 in that stretch and hit .377 while holding opponents to a .177 average. Millersville has won three consecutive PSAC Eastern Division titles for the first time in school history and has won four of the last five division crowns and five since
Jon Shehan took over the program in 2008. The last PSAC program to win three consecutive division titles was Slippery Rock, which won six in a row from 1995-2000. The last East team to do it was Mansfield from 1992-1996. Millersville is in the tournament for a record fifth consecutive year. Shehan's clubs are 9-9 in PSAC Tournament play, having won two games in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014. Millersville's last PSAC Championship came in 1998.
•   The 2014 PSAC Tournament was shortened to a single-elmination format because of steady rain. The Marauders won their first two games against Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst before falling by a 1-0 score in the championship game to Kutztown.
•   Seeding matters little in the PSAC Tournament. In 2011, Millersville lost to No. 4 IUP in the opening round. Over the last 15 years, only three No. 1 seeds have won the PSAC Championship: West Chester (2012, 2009) and Mercyhurst (2011). Kutztown became the first-ever No. 4 seed to win the tournament last season, and only four No. 3 seeds (Kutztown in 2008 and 2005, Shippensburg in 2007 and ESU in 2013) have won it. The key is winning early. Since the field expanded in 2005, seven of the 10 champions have went undefeated. Only one team, Shippensburg in 2007, lost in the first round and rallied to win.
•   Millersville is certainly among the most well-balanced teams in the field. The Marauders rank second in the PSAC in batting average, hits, runs and RBIs and also rank second in ERA and batting average against.
•   Millersville has won nine or more games in a row three times this season with the longest streak of 13 coming from March 23-April 11. That 13-game winning streak came within one of the school record. The Marauders have lost back-to-back games just once, and that was in the opening series at Winston-Salem State.
THE MATCH-UP•   Millersville draws PSAC West No. 4 seed California in the opening round. The two programs have met just six times and have split the all-time series. The last meeting came in the the 2012 PSAC Tournament when Millersville bounced the Vulcans by a 6-2 score. The teams also split two 2012 regular season meetings, and Millersville also defeated California 8-4 in the 2011 PSAC Tournament.
•   California's success comes from an offense that hits .330 and has recorded 76 doubles and 45 homers. The running game is always a key part of Coach Mike Conte's teams, and the Vulcans rank fourth in the PSAC in steals with 65. The Vulcan offense features two of the most prolific hitters in the league. Matt Peters ranks second in the PSAC in hitting with a .452 average. Mick Fennell ranks sixth with a .417 average, and his 118 total bases rank fifth in the league. He's hit eight homers and leads the league with eight triples. He's led the league in that category for two consecutive seasons.
•   California doesn't make many mistakes on defense. The club leads all of Division II with a .977 fielding percentage. They have committed just 30 errors in 1,313 chances. Â
•   The chink in the armor is a pitching staff that owns a 7.13 team ERA and .337 batting average against. Jack Dennis, who was recently named the PSAC West Pitcher of the Week for a second time this season, leads the team with a 4-1 record and 4.09 ERA. He has walked just six batters over 50.2 innings pitched. He threw a no-hitter in 2014. Dennis is lefty, and while the Marauders generally start three left-handed bats in the heart of the lineup, they have hit .365 against southpaws this season.
Dan Stoltzfus (.417) and
Jeremy Musser (.343) hit better against lefties. Righty
Tyler McDonald benefits significantly from the lefty match-up. He has hit .343 against lefties and .248 against righties this season.
THE IRONMAN•   Millersville's own Ironman is
Tyler Orris. Orris has started 160 consecutive games at shortstop since stepping on to campus. The 2014 regional gold glove winner is leading the PSAC in assists for a third season in a row. Orris is one of three Marauders ever to steal 20-plus bases in back-to-back seaosns and is just nine hits and four runs away from single-season school records. He enters the tournament on an 11-game hitting streak.
MURPHY MAKES IT THREE•  Â
Chris Murphy entered the season as the only pitcher to win the PSAC East Pitcher of the Year award twice. Now he's won it three times. Despite pitching for just three seasons, Murphy is 31-4 and ranks second in PSAC history in career wins. His .886 winning percentage is fourth-best all-time. Murphy has won 13 consecutive decisions dating back to April of 2014.
•   Murphy's numbers in the postseason are not as impressive. He has made four starts without a decision. In 30.1 innings Murphy has allowed 13 earned runs and struck out 15 for a 3.86 ERA.
POUND THE STRIKE ZONE•  Â
Jim McDade was named PSAC East and NCBWA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Week twice this season and was outstanding in league play, posting a 5-1 record with a 2.84 ERA and four complete games. More incredibly, McDade did not allow a single walk over seven starts and 44.1 innings against division opponents. His last walk issued was against IUP on March 9. McDade has won five of his last six starts.
MILLER TIME•   While Murphy was the PSAC East Pitcher of the Year,
Brandon Miller could have made a case for it too. Against the division, Miller went 7-0 with a 2.35 ERA, four complete games, 41 strikeouts to six walks in 46 innings. Miller tied with Murphy for the league lead in wins and innings and ranked fifth in strikeouts and batting average against.
•   Miller acclimated himself to the postseason well in 2014. He pitched two-thirds of an inning out of the bullpen against Mercyhurst in the PSAC Tournament and gave up two runs on two hits. But he drew a start against Kutztown in the regional and allowed only one unearned run over 6.0 innings and got the win.
SLAMMIN' STOLTZFUS•  Â
Dan Stoltzfus had just two career home runs entering his junior season. But so far in 2015, he has 13 bombs, which is just one away from the school record set by Matt Knox in 2001 and Ryan Brink in 1998. Knox's 72 RBIs in 2000 has long stood as unreachable but Stoltzfus is just four away with 68. He makes the most of his chances, hitting .407 with runners in scoring position and is 22-for-26 with a runner on third and less than two outs. His 26 two-out RBIs are a team best. His 21-game hitting streak came within two of the school record.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP •  Â
Chas McCormick was All-PSAC East Second Team as a freshman and moved up to the first team this season. McCormick is a true five-tool player. Among PSAC players, he ranks in the top 15 in nine offensive categories. He is one of just four players ever at Millersville to drive in more than 50 runs in a season. He is one double away from being the first Marauder ever to have 15 doubles and 15 steals in a season. McCormick may also win a region gold glove this season as he is perfect in 68 chances. He's also pitched two innings out of the bullpen.
•   McCormick is the first Ville outfielder since Mike Wokulich in 2001-02 to be a back-to-back All-PSAC East pick and is one of only four ever.
