ABOUT THE GAME

• The race for a bid to the NCAA Atlantic Regional is becoming hotly-contested, and Wednesday's match-up at Cooper Park between Millersville and Frostburg State are two of the most winning teams in the region. While Millersville's 31 wins are more wins than any other team in the region, Frostburg State, now with a 28-10 record, has surprised the Mountain East Conference. Frostburg State is ineligible for the NCAA postseason as it is continues its transition to Division II from the Division III ranks, but the Bobcats have shown they belong in 2022. 
• Millersville slipped from No. 1 to No. 3 in this week's NCBWA Atlantic Region Poll and dropped 12 spots from No. 15 to No. 27 in the Collegiate Baseball Division II Poll. Frostburg State stayed in the regional poll for the second week in a row, sitting at No. 9. Time is running out for both teams to build their regional resumes. Seven regular season games remain for Millersville while Frostburg State has 10 left on the docket. With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, there are 11 Atlantic Region teams with at least 24 wins. The field is so compact that a 25-13 Glenville State club and a 28-12-1 Concord team were left out of this week's NCBWA regional poll. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville entered last weekend 16-1 at home but lost two to West Chester by a combined score of 21-3. Millersville had allowed more than six runs just twice in the first 17 home games. Millersville has lost three games in a row just six times over its last 502 games. The good news for Millersville is that it has not lost four-straight regular season games since March of 2012. And the Marauders still own one of the most productive lineups in the region with six hitters batting over .300 and a team on base percentage of .414. 
• Luke Trainer enters Wednesday with an eight-game hitting streak and 11 RBIs in his last six games. Keegan Soltis had a hit in eight-straight games before the West Chester series finale. 
• Trainer, Bren Taylor, Thomas Caufield and Jimmy Losh all rank in the PSAC's top 20 in batting average with all four hitting at .372 or better. Trainer and Taylor rank fourth and fifth respectively among PSAC hitters in on base percentage while Losh is 19th and Caufield is 20th. 
• Millersville has had success with its young starting pitchers in mid-week games. Last week against Salem, Evan Rishell tossed seven shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 3.79 over 19 innings. Garet Blankenbiller has given the Marauders three strong mid-week starts in the last month. He gave up one run in four innings against Wilmington, one run in five innings against Seton Hill and two runs in 4 ? against Salem. Blankenbiller is 3-0 with a 3.08 ERA and averaging more than strikeout per inning (31 in 26 ?). 
   

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS

• Frostburg's 28-10 is a dramatic turnaround from last season's 14-25 mark. The last time Frostburg State won more than 23 games in a season was in 2016. Anthony Williams, who spent four seasons at Clarion, is in his second season leading the Bobcats. 
• The Bobcats are winning with a highly-productive offense that is averaging 8.6 runs and nearly 1 ½ home runs per game. There is depth in the lineup as 11 of the 13 players with at least 40 at bats are hitting over .300. Bryce Jackson is having an All-America caliber season with a .429/.558/.916 slash line. More than half of his 51 hits have gone for extra bases (15 homers, 11 doubles, one triple). Danny Estrada gives the Bobcats a table-setter with a .486 OBP and 11 stolen bases. Ethan Kipe provides plenty of protection for Jackson as he has hit 12 homers and owns an impressive 1.193 OPS. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. FROSTBURG STATE

• Wednesday marks the first meeting between Millersville and Frostburg State in 51 years. The programs have played just twice before with the first meeting coming in 1968 and the most recent in 1971. Those Millersville teams were led by hall of fame coach Gene Wise. He led the Marauders to a PSAC title in 1968, and the 1971 club posted a 15-7-1 record. The 1968 team included future Millersville hall of fame inductees Jeff Gamber, Joe Schneider and Glenn Stitzel. Glenn, the father of current Millersville men's basketball coach Casey Stitzel, played eight seasons in the New York Mets minor league organization, hitting .295 over 733 games, reaching Triple-A.