MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – For the seventh time in 11 seasons, the Millersville University baseball team is PSAC East champion. The Marauders swept both games of Saturday's doubleheader against Kutztown, 13-2 and 2-1, to secure the program's 13^th all-time PSAC East title and eighth under head coach Jon Shehan.
 
Millersville starter Jeff Taylor (8-1) continued his streak of dominant starts, making it seven consecutive wins (all in conference play) by tossing five innings in game one, allowing one earned run, a single hit, and striking out six. Bobby Dorta entered the game to pitch the final two innings, also allowing just one hit and one earned run.
 
In game two, Paul Wilson (5-1) held down the fort for the Marauders in a low-scoring game. Wilson threw four innings of scoreless baseball, scattering four hits, and striking out four batters. Kris Pirozzi and Aidan Welch combined for the next two innings, with Pirozzi conceding an unearned run to make it a 2-1 game. Christian Wingard earned his third save of the season after a scoreless seventh inning.
 
Offensively, sophomore Bren Taylor had three total hits between both games, including a triple, double, and 3 RBIs. Fifth-year senior Eric Callahan launched a two-run bomb to left field in game one to put the Ville ahead and had three hits, three runs scored, and two RBIs on the day.
 
The schedule now shifts to the postseason, with the Marauders set to host a must-win PSAC quarterfinal game on Wednesday, May 12.
 
GAME ONE (MILLERSVILLE 13, KUTZTOWN 2)
• The Marauders jumped ahead early, with a Bren Taylor RBI triple in the first inning getting the party started and scoring Jimmy Losh for the 1-0 lead. A Luke Trainer sacrifice fly and an Eric Callahan two-run dinger to left field made it 4-0.  
• Three more Ville runs came across in the third inning, with Cole Friese stroking a leadoff single, advancing to second on a Callahan groundout, stealing third base, and eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Mark Miller and Nick Mancuso both drew two-out walks and they were promptly brought home by back-to-back RBI singles from Tyler Wright and Jimmy Losh to push the lead to seven runs.
• The Marauders added three more runs in the fourth inning thanks to a pair of RBI singles from Justin Taylor and Mark Miller and a bases-loaded walk by Jimmy Losh that made it a 10-run advantage and put the game out of reach.
 
GAME TWO (MILLERSVILLE 2, KUTZTOWN 1)
• It was a low-scoring showdown all game long, with the Marauders putting a run across in the second thanks to some heads-up work on the basepaths by Eric Callahan. He led off the frame with a single up the middle, stole second base, and advanced to third on a fly out. A Mark Miller single drove him home for the first run of the game.
• A second run of the game came across in the third inning in a similar fashion, with Jimmy Losh singling, stealing second, and advancing on a groundout to the right side. It was Luke Trainer this time coming up with the two-out RBI base knock to give the Ville a 2-0 lead.
• Kutztown came alive in the top of the sixth, with a Matt Piscotty double to right center off Kris Pirozzi scoring Zach Moretski to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Aidan Welch entered the game in a tough spot (as is his specialty) and got the necessary two outs to maintain the Millersville lead and allow Christian Wingard to retire the side 1-2-3 in the seventh for the team's second victory of the day.
 
REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JON SHEHAN
•On winning the PSAC East title: "It's been such a year of adversity, and I'm so proud of the guys. It's check box one in 2021, so to speak. The PSAC is a really good league. It is every year, so anytime you win the regular season you're proud of the accomplishment and how the team played. We held it together through adversity. It's been a full team effort of guys just stepping up."
•On the bats doing well down the stretch: "If you look at our offense right now, they're hitting one through 10 or 11. Everyone's got 3 or more home runs and it's been a lot of fun to watch these guys compete. We're not done and we're really happy with where we're at."
•On the importance of tomorrow's games: "We have to take care of tomorrow. Kutztown is right around .500, which means they are big regional games. Our goal is always to win a national championship, so in order to do that we need to get to that regional. It's really hard to tell where we're at right now—there's a lot of really good teams with similar records around 22-10—so tomorrow's important and we need to take care of business. Kutztown is going to come out and compete."

NOTES
• Cole Friese and Eric Callahan both stole two bases on the day. Friese has been successful on 15 of his 16 attempts in 2021, while Callahan is 12-for-12.
• Bren Taylor's triple was his team-high third of the season but he trails Luke Trainer for the team lead in extra-base hits by just one, 18 to 17. Trainer has hit the most doubles on the squad (12).
• Jeff Taylor's ERA now drops to 2.63, while opponents continue to bat just .190 against him.
 
UP NEXT
• The Marauders finish the Kutztown series with a pair of games at Kutztown on Saturday, May 8 beginning at 12 p.m. After that, Millersville hosts the quarterfinals of the PSAC baseball tournament on Wednesday, May 12 beginning at 12 p.m. The Marauders will face the fourth-seeded team from the PSAC East in a one-game elimination format.