ABOUT THE REGIONAL

• Very little about the 2021 baseball season was normal, but when it comes to the NCAA Atlantic Regional field, it feels eerily familiar. Millersville is back in the regional for the eighth consecutive season--the longest active streak among the teams in the Atlantic Region. With a 28-13 record, the PSAC East champion Marauders are the No. 2 seed and draw the Mountain East Conference champs and No. 3 seed West Virginia State Thursday at 3 p.m. Joining the Marauders and Yellow Jackets in the field are No. 1 seed Seton Hill, No. 4 seed and PSAC Tournament champs Bloomsburg, and No. 5 seed at tournament host Charleston. 
• Millersville has played in the regional each season since 2013 and in nine of the last 10, winning the regional in 2011 and 2016. Millersville also played in the 1998 and 2000 regionals and won the regional title in 1998. West Virginia State recently won its third Mountain East title and its 18th conference championship all-time. The Yellow Jackets are in the field for the first time since 2015, and their last regional title came in 2005. Charleston is making its third-straight appearance. It won its super regional in 2019 before losing in a three-game series to Mercyhurst. Charleston has not won a NCAA regional before, and this marks its first time serving as the tournament host. Seton Hill reached the tournament each year from 2010-2018, last advancing to the NCAA Championship in 2014. Bloomsburg is making its third-straight appearance and its fourth all-time. The Huskies last won the regional in 1995. 
• This year's regional field was narrowed from six to five teams, and the two, three-team super regionals are no longer in play. The five teams in Charleston this weekend play a double elimination tournament with the winner advancing with the seven other regional winners to the NCAA Championship in Cary, N.C., which begins on June 5. 
• This is the first time since 2006 that a NCAA regional has been played in the state of West Virginia. West Virginia State served as host that year. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• While the Marauders reached the NCAA Atlantic Regional as the No. 2 seed, 2021 has hardly been an easy road. In addition to losing No. 1 starter Alex Mykut on April 10 (he was 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA at the time), the Marauders played the PSAC Tournament without No. 3 starter Paul Wilson, who posted a 5-1 record in the regular season. In Millersville's two PSAC Tournament losses to Bloomsburg, it gave up 20 runs and walked 25 batters. Millersville is 21-4 when it walks fewer than five batters. 
• Still, Millersville boasts the PSAC East's Pitcher of the Year (Jeff Taylor), Athlete of the Year (Bren Taylor), Freshman of the Year (Conor Cook), and Coach of the Year (Jon Shehan). A sweep of the annual awards has occurred just twice in either division since 2006. 
• Millersville has a capable offensive lineup, ranking second only to Seton Hill in the PSAC in hitting with a .327 average. Millersville also ranked second to the Griffins in total runs scored and hits. Prior to being shutout in the PSAC Tournament elimination game the Marauders had scored at least six runs in eight of its previous nine and had topped double-digit runs 15 times. Millersville is just 4-6 when scoring four of fewer runs. 
• Left field Bren Taylor became the first sophomore named PSAC East Athlete of the Year since 2010, and only the third Marauder to ever win the award. He joins Zach Stone (2013) and current Houston Astros outfielder Chas McCormick as winners. Taylor hit .438 in the regular season and led Millersville in runs, triples, hitting and on base percentage. Taylor's bid to posting the 21st .400 batting average in Millersville history (and just the seventh since 2000) took a hit when he went 0-for-13 in the PSAC Tournament. He still managed to score four runs in the team's four games. 
• Catcher Luke Trainer, recently voted NCBWA All-Atlantic Region First Team has been red-hot of late, going 8-for-16 with five RBIs in the PSAC Tournament. He's had at least one hit in nine of the last 10 games, upping his average to .371.
• Millersville is always a threat to leave the yard as it has hit 47 home runs in just 41 games. The school record of 57 home runs came in 1998 when the team played 54 games and won the regional. Millersville is 20-5 when it hits at least one home run. 
• Millersville's top home run hitter is Cole Friese with 10. He is the only player in program history with two seasons of 10 or more home runs and he is all-time home run leader with 29. 
• On the mound, the Marauders have relied heavily on Jeff Taylor in the wake of injuries to the pitching staff. The redshirt junior has responded by winning nine consecutive starts for a 10-1 record. He went 7-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the PSAC East, and is 2-0 in this postseason with 18 strikeouts and just three earned runs and seven hits allowed over 14 innings. Taylor most recently threw seven shutout innings in a win over Bloomsburg. Freshman Conor Cook took a no decision in his first postseason start, giving up three runs on four hits and four walks in four innings against Bloomsburg. Cook has pitched at least seven innings in three of his five starts. 
   

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS

• West Virginia State ran roughshod over the Mountain East Conference. After a 12-6 start, the Yellow Jackets closed out its schedule 20-2 and swept its way through the MEC Tournament. That stretch included a 13-game winning streak. They produced 42 hits in the final three games of the tournament and won those games by a combined 26-7 score. The Yellow Jackets went 1-2 in its only games against PSAC opponents this season. All three games came against Slippery Rock in March. The MEC's top regional teams, West Virginia State and Charleston, have not played in 2021. 
• West Virginia State owns one of the top pitching staffs in the region, and its led by NCBWA All-Atlantic Region First Team selection Ethan Lauchert, who went 6-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 13 appearances and six starts. He struck out 67 in 63 innings. He has not allowed a run in three of his last four appearances. In the MEC Tournament clincher, he tossed five innings with one hit allowed against Concord. 
• Five different pitchers have combined to total 10 saves. Senior Andrew Stone leads the team with four saves, posting a 0.71 ERA in 12 appearances. Stone is also an everyday player, leading the team with a .369 batting average. 
• Matt Harrison provides the power to West Virginia State's lineup with 13 home runs and a 1.211 OPS. The first baseman, recently named NCBWA All-Atlantic Region First Team, led the MEC in home runs.
• Don't expect the Yellow Jackets to make mistakes in the field. The team fields at a .974 clip, which led the MEC and currently ranks 10th in Division II. No team in the Atlantic Region has turned more double plays than West Virginia State's 28. 

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• Under Coach Jon Shehan, the Marauders have become a fixture in the NCAA Atlantic Regional. The Marauders have won the regional twice since 2011. They've also reached the field as the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in nine of its 10 of its 11 appearances. While the Marauders went 0-2 as the super regional host in 2019, the team has won at least one game at the regional in each of its other 10 appearances. Millersville has won three regional games six times. 
• Millersville has an all-time regional record of 29-21 and is 7-3 in first round games with  two consecutive losses. Millersville has scored a total of one run its last four regional losses. Since 2014, Millersville has scored more than three runs in the opening round just once (six in 2017), and has scored just one run total in its last three opening round losses (2019, 2018, 2015). 
• Millersville has never played an NCAA Tournament game in the state of West Virginia. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Millersville is 3-1 all-time against West Virginia State in NCAA Tournament games. The teams have never played in the regular season. Most recently, the Marauders eliminated the Yellow Jackets by a 4-1 score in game two of the 2015 regional. Millersville's first regional championship came in 1998, and that required two wins over West Virginia State. The teams played three times in that regional. Millersville took game one 9-7, and West Virginia State took game two 13-3. The Marauders won the rubber match 5-0 to advance to the NCAA Championship. 

RECORD WATCH

• Trainer's 50 RBIs currently ranks in a tie for ninth on Millersville's single season records list. One more would move him into a tie for eighth with hall of famer Ryan Brink (1998). He is eight RBIs away from cracking the career top 10. 
• Friese is ninth in career RBIs (132). While he is the all-time leader in home runs, he needs just one triple to move into a tie for first in that category as well. His 193 runs are third-most all-time, and his 216 hits ranks sixth, just four behind fifth place. Friese also ranks fifth in career steals and 10th in walks. 
• Eric Callahan's 428 career assists ranks fourth in program history. 
• Jeff Taylor is in search of his 11th win of the season, and that would give him the second-most. A Millersville pitcher has won 12 games five times. His 11th win would move him into a tie with current Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Tim Mayza (2013).