Erie, Pa. – Thirteen is certainly unlucky for the Millersville Marauders. The No. 2-seeded Marauders entered Thursday's NCAA Atlantic Regional opener against West Chester riding a 13-game winning streak, but starter Nick Stallings and the Golden Rams put an end to it and sent the Marauders into the loser's bracket by a 5-0 final.

The loss was Millersville's first since April 17 and the first-ever in the opening round of a regional. It was also the second time this season that Millersville could not extend a winning streak past 13.

Stallings had allowed 11 runs in his last two starts that last just 7.1 innings. He allowed at least two runs and two walks in each of his previous nine starts, but he handed Millersville its first shutout loss since game three of the season on Feb. 8. The Marauders scored 36 runs in its PSAC Tournament win. Stallings allowed only four singles over eight innings and struck out a season-high eight.

"He did a good job getting the breaking ball over early and we failed to adjust and sit on the breaking ball," said Millersville head coach Jon Shehan. "He threw some fastballs in the zone on the inner half the plate to keep the breaking ball working and that kept us off balance. You have to give him a lot of credit, he threw a good game."

While Stallings struggled prior to Thursday's start, Marauder starter Brandon Miller was the opposite. He had allowed just one earned run over his last 28 innings and stretched the streak to 32 before West Chester put together the one big inning it needed—a four-run fifth that included a leadoff walk, two RBI hits, a RBI ground out and a run-scoring wild pitch.

"Miller has been one of our guys to go to this year," said Shehan. "He's going to have an outing like that every now and then, but we have to do a better job swinging the bats and helping him out."
Miller's streak of 11 consecutive wins came to an end as he fell to 11-2 on the season.

Millersville managed just six hits in the game and two of them came in the bottom of the ninth. Only three runners reached scoring position the entire game. A notable absence from the lineup was PSAC Tournament MVP and All-Atlantic Region First Team second baseman David Summerfield, who sat the first eight innings with injury that was sustained earlier in the week in practice. Summerfield, ranked fourth in Division II with a .456 average, pinch hit in the ninth, singled through the left side and was immediately run for.

"He is certainly a confidence booster when he is in there," said Shehan. "I'm not going to blame our offense solely on the fact that he wasn't in the lineup today. I just thought Stallings did a good job. The umpire was pretty consistent giving six inches off the plate and Stallings took advantage of it."

John Brogan had two of Millersville's hits. The Marauders did not seriously threatened until the eighth. Ted Williams and Tyler Orris drew back-to-back two-out walks but Stallings promptly struck out Dan Neff to end the inning. Chas McCormick doubled on a blooper to right field to start the ninth and eventually reached third on Summerfield's single, but a 6-4-3 double play induced by reliever Mike O'Neill ended the game.

Millersville finds itself in unfamiliar territory. The Marauders had won all three opening round games in Shehan's previous regional appearances. Now they must battle through the losers' bracket. They now play West Virginia State Friday at 10 a.m. in an elimination game. Millersville has lost back-to-back games just once this season and that came in the opening series of the season against Winston-Salem State.  
 
"If there is a team that can win a regional after going down 0-1 in the first game, this is it," said Shehan. "I have confidence in this group. They plate better angry. We've done a good job being consistent all the way through the season about bouncing back after a loss. We have a lot of arms left and our offense is going to get going."