ABOUT THE GAMES
• Millersville heads to the PSAC Tournament for the sixth year in a row and the seventh time in nine years under
Jon Shehan. Before Shehan's arrival, Millersville had played in the PSAC Tournament just five times (1974-2007). Millersville is the reigning PSAC Tournament champion and has played in the title game in each of the last two seasons. The Marauders defeated East Stroudsburg 13-4 in last season's championship tilt, earning the program its first league crown since 1998 and fourth all-time (1974, 1975, 1998).
• Millersville also won its fourth consecutive PSAC Eastern Division Championship—a feat that had not been accomplished since Mansfield won five in a row from 1992-96.
Millersville's 44-4 record is a program record for regular season wins. No PSAC team has owned a better record heading into the tournament since Kutztown entered 44-3 in 2007.
• Coincidently, that 2007 Kutztown club was the last PSAC team to achieve a No. 1 national ranking during the regular season before Millersville claimed the top spot in the Collegiate Baseball Poll on April 18. It marked the first time in program history that the Marauders were ranked No. 1. In addition to the 2016 Marauders, only the 2007 Kutztown and 1995 Mansfield held regular season No. 1 rankings. Millersville has been ranked No. 1 by the NCBWA for two weeks in a row.
• A team from the PSAC East has won each of the last four and six of the last eight tournament titles. Millersville repeated as champs in 1974-75 when it was a two team playoff between divisional champs. The last team to repeat was Kutztown in 2005-06
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THE GAME ONE OPPONENT
• Millersville's first round opponent is a familiar one. The Marauders and California Vulcans matched up in the opening game of the 2015 tournament with Millersville winning 8-0 behind a complete game, two-hit shutout from
Brandon Miller. Millersville and California also met in the 2012 and 2011 PSAC Tournaments. Millersville holds a 3-0 edge all-time in postseason games.
• The Marauders will match-up with PSAC Western Division Athlete of the Year Mick Fennell. Fennell hit .395 with 22 steals, eight homers, 33 RBIs and 54 runs. Fennell is a two-time first team selection and three-time pick. He is a Butler, Pa., native and also went 5-1 with a 4.91 ERA on the mound. Senior pitcher Jack Dennis was a second team pick for the third year in a row. He is one of only five 20-game winners in program history. Closer Matt Carter ranks fourth in the PSAC in saves with five.
• California ranks 13th out of 16 PSAC teams in batting average (.298) and has hit just 23 homers. The team's 604 total bases ranks 12th. The team's ERA is at 6.61 and opponents have hit .324 against the staff.
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RARE COMPANY
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Jon Shehan has quickly climbed the all-time wins list at Millersville. He scored his 300th win at the age of 34. His 307 wins are only six away from Dr. Joseph Abromaitis' record. Abromaitis coached from 1979-94 and owned a .515 winning percentage. Shehan's winning percentage is currently .660, trailing only hall of famer Gene Wise's .670 (145-71-2). Wise is also the only Marauder coach with two PSAC Championships.
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BATTLE TESTED
• These Marauders are certainly familiar with the PSAC Tournament Eight of the nine players in the starting lineup for last season's championship game have been regular starters in 2016. Three of the four pitchers in the game are also still on the roster. Senior
Tyler Orris has played 25 postseason games. After starting his career 0-for-6 in PSAC Tournament games, Orris has since hit .296 with 10 runs scored and no fielding errors committed.
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Brandon Miller was the game one starter in 2015, throwing a complete game shutout against California. Miller struck out 12 and gave up just two hits. It was his first career PSAC Tournament start after appearing in relief as a rookie in 2013.
Jim McDade has made three PSAC Tournament starts and has gotten better each year. After lasting only 1 1/3 against West Chester in 2013, McDade took a no decision after giving up four in five innings against Mercyhurst in 2014. He faced Mercyhurst again in 2015 and took a no decision after allowing five runs over nine innings.
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LAST SEASON'S RUN
• On its way to the 2015 PSAC Championship, Millersville score 36 runs in four games while allowing just 14. The Marauders needed a ninth-inning rally and 10th-inning walk-off double from
Chas McCormick to beat Mercyhurst in the semifinals. In the championship game, Millersville received three hits from both
Mitch Stoltzfus and
David Summerfield for a 13-4 win.
Stephen Muscovitch started and
Reid Anderson earned the mound win by allowing just one unearned run over four innings.
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NO WALK IN THE PARK
• Marauder starting pitchers
Brandon Miller and
Jim McDade have combined to issue just 11 walks in 138 innings. As a staff, Millersville has walked a PSAC-low 98 in 368 1/3 innings. McDade has walked just four (.57 per nine innings), ranking first in the league and fourth nationally. Miller ranks eighth nation. McDade had one streak of 46 1/3 innings without a walk.
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AWARD MILESTONES
• A new program record was set on Thursday when nine Marauders were named All-PSAC. Millersville led all PSAC teams with nine honorees. Coach
Jon Shehan won the coach of the year award for the third time in his career (2008, 2013, 2016).
Brandon Miller's co-pitcher of the year honor gave Millersville claim to the award for a fourth consecutive season after never winning the award before 2013.
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Cordell Shannon became Millersville's first freshman of the year since Derek Kline in 2008. Marauder freshman of the year award winners are impressive. Kline was an early draftee by the Detroit Tigers but returned to set the program hits record and serve as a conference starter. Matt Knox (1999) was drafted as a junior in the 13th round of the 2001 draft by the Cleveland Indians and played six seasons in the minor leagues. 1997 winner Ryan Brink was inducted into the Millersville University Athletic Hall of Fame.
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Chas McCormick is a two-time first team selection and a three-time All-PSAC East honoree. He is the first Marauder to be named All-PSAC East in each of his first three seasons.
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Mitch Stoltzfus is the first Marauder catcher named All-PSAC East since
Miles Gallagher in 2010. He is the first first team selection since
Jon Shehan in 2002.
• Relief pitcher
Mike Mock totaled three saves and a team-leading 15 appearances as a freshman and became one of just seven Marauder relievers to be named All-PSAC East. He is the third under the direction of Shehan, joining Adam Zipko and Zach Eckley.
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RECORD SETTING STREAK
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Mitch Stoltzfus set a Millersville hit streak record in 2016, totaling 28 consecutive games with a hit from Feb. 7 to April 8. The previous record was set by Mike Van Gavree in 1990. Stoltzfus' streak was the second longest in PSAC history and came within six of Slippery Rock's Adam Urbania (2015). Â
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Dan Stoltzfus recorded a 17-game hitting streak at one point.
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STARTING FOUR
• Each member of Millersville's four-man weekend rotation was recognized by the PSAC this season. Miller was a first team selection and the co-pitcher of the year. McDade and Anderson were named to the second team and Shannon was the freshman of the year. It is the first time in program history that all four starters picked up a league honor. Three of the four—Miller, McDade and Shannon—also won PSAC East Pitcher of the Week awards. Miller won the weekly award three times.
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ADVANTAGE AT THE COOP
• Millersville baseball has an incredible home field advantage. The Marauders went 20-0 at home in 2016 and have won 27 consecutive games at The Coop. The team is 51-6 at the park since 2014. The PSAC Tournament is in a neutral site, but Millersville is 5-0 in such games this season and 25-4 over the last two.
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SUMMERFIELD'S STORY
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David Summerfield was one of the heroes of the 2015 PSAC Championship. He was named the tournament MVP after going 10-for-19 with four multi-hit games, eight runs scored and six RBIs. But just a week later, the nation's No. 2 hitter (.452 average) suffered essentially a season-ending knee injury. Just eight months later, Summerfield returned to the starting lineup on opening day of 2016. He struggled early and after the first 13 games he was hitting just .216. Summerfield then ripped off an eight-game hitting streak, and despite missing the last eight games with an injury, Summerfield has upped his average to .352. Summerfield is hitting .402 (31-for-77) since March 12.
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ON FIRE
• No Marauder has been as red-hot as
Chas McCormick. The junior was hitting .317 entering the April 10 doubleheader at Lock Haven. Over the last 16 games, McCormick has 12 multi-hit games, six multi-RBI games and has upped his average to .397. He's hitting 33-for-59 (.559) with 19 runs scored and 13 stolen bases in the last 16 games.
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FINDING HIS GROVE
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Reid Anderson did not pitch in high school and was only used as a long reliever in 2015. As a full-time starter in 2016, not only was he named All-PSAC East Second Team, he posted an 8-0 record and gave up just 41 hits in 54 2/3 innings, ranking third in the league in batting average against. Anderson's last five starts have been particularly outstanding. He has given up just four hits in each of those starts and a total of just five earned runs while totaling 30 innings.
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RUN SUPPORT
• Millersville ranked second in the PSAC in runs scored with 425, and ranked second in runs allowed with 124. The Marauders outscored their opponents by an average of 6.3 runs per game. The 301 run differential led the PSAC. Mercyhurst ranked second with a 253 differential.
