Williamston, N.C. - Millersville and Seton Hill are no strangers when it comes to postseason baseball, but the residents of Williamston, N.C., were treated to a rare regular season match-up between the two Division II powers Saturday. The No. 17 Marauders used 18 hits, including four from catcher
Mitch Stoltzfus, to score a 14-5 win.
Of the eight times Millersville and Seton Hill have met, Saturday's game marked only the second regular season game of the series. The Marauders' win evened the series at 4-4, and Millersville has now won three in a row. The 14 runs were the most allowed by Seton Hill since April of 2014.
The first six batters in Millersville's lineup had at least two hits apiece and eight different Marauders scored runs. Stoltzfus, who finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs, a sacrifice fly and a run scored, teamed with
Jeremy Musser to break open the game in the third inning.
Millersville struck first when Stoltzfus singled home
Chas McCormick. Seton Hill, working against Marauder starter
Reid Anderson, grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first with two runs on three hits. After a quiet second inning, Millersville erupted for six runs in the third. McCormick drove in
Tyler Orris with a single, and
Dan Neff swiped home on a double steal. Stoltzfus then delivered a two-run shot to center. Two batters later, Musser hit a two-run homer of his own to give the Marauders a 7-2 advantage. Millersville tacked on three more runs in the fourth and four in the ninth for good measure.
Anderson was bounced after 2.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits.
Matt Ulrich bridged the gap to freshman
Cordell Shannon (1-1), who provided the Marauders with six strong innings of relief. The only two runs Shannon allowed came on solo homers in the seventh and ninth. He gave up just four hits, did not walk a batter and struck out seven.
Millersville knocked Seton Hill's veteran starter Mike Bittel (0-1) out of the game after 3.1 innings, tagging him for nine runs, seven earned, on 11 hits.
Millersville has scored 35 runs in its first two games in Williamston this season and in four of its last five games played at the park. The final game of the trip is Sunday against Indiana (Pa.).
