ABOUT THE GAME

• The NCAA Atlantic Regional hosted at Cooper Park begins with a clash of conference champions. No. 2-seeded Millersville won the PSAC Tournament, and No. 7 seed Charleston won a winner-take-all game with Glenville State to score its automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. This marks the fourth regional match-up since 2018, and it is a reversal of roles from 2021 when Charleston played host to the regional. 
• This year's regional returns to the format previously used in 2019 with the winner of two double-elimination sites playing a best-of-three super regional for the right to advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament in Cary, N.C. Millersville hosts Charleston, No. 3 seed Gannon and No. 6 seed East Stroudsburg while top-seeded West Chester hosts No. 4 Slippery Rock and No. 5 Seton Hill. Millersville previously hosted the regional in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019, but this is only the second time the Marauders have held the tournament at their own Cooper Park. The first NCAA tournament games at The Coop did not go well for the Marauders, as they lost back-to-back games by scores of 2-1 and 2-0 to be eliminated on the their first day of the competition. 
• This year's Millersville team is 19-4 at The Coop and have averaged 8.9 runs per game with a .330 average while allowing opponents to score 4.0 runs per game with a .230 average. 
• The match-up features two high-powered offenses. Charleston averages 8.3 runs per game and is coming off a conference tournament in which it outscored opponents 49-12 in five games. Charleston has scored double-digit runs in seven of its last 12 games. Millersville averages 8.6 runs per game and has scored double-figures 19 times. 

MILLERSVILLE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

• Millersville is in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth season in a row--the longest streak among Atlantic Region teams. The Marauders have won three regional titles--1998, 2011 and 2016. In 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021, the Marauders reached the championship round of the regional. Seton Hill was responsible for three of those eliminations. Since 2011, only five teams have won the Atlantic Regional (Millersville (2), Mercyhurst (2), Seton Hill (3), West Chester (2) and Shippensburg (1)). Millersville is also looking to go against history as the last team to win the PSAC Championship and the Atlantic Regional in the same season was the 2012 West Chester club. West Chester also pulled off the feat in 2009 as did Kutztown in 2002, Shippensburg in 1996, and Mansfield in 1992-94. The last Mountain East Conference team to win the regional was West Virginia State in 2005.
• Millersville is 31-21 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and has won at least two games in nine of 11 appearances.
• While the 2022 Marauders have scored runs in bunches, Millersville has not scored more than five runs in its last seven regional games and has scored two runs or fewer five times in the last three appearances. Expect a low-scoring game Thursday. Millersville is 8-3 all-time in opening round games but has never scored more than six runs in the first round and has never allowed more than five. Millersville has averaged just 2.8 runs in those 11 first round games and opponents have averaged just 2.09. One of the teams has scored one run of fewer in seven of the 11 games.
• Millersville is 8-2 against current Mountain East Conference teams in regional play. Charleston's 3-0 win in the 2018 first round was the first since a 13-3 win by West Virginia State in 1998.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville is 40-3 when scoring five or more runs and has continued its record-setting pace into the postseason. This season's runs per game average is the best in program history. They've smashed the team record for doubles with 123, already seven more than the 2016 team. The 54 home runs are three shy of the 1998 team's school record, and with a .505 slugging percentage, the 2022 club has a chance to top the 1998 team's record of .500. 
• Thomas Caufield and Luke Trainer sit 1-2 in the PSAC in both doubles and RBIs. It is only the second time in program history that two teammates have driven in over 60 runs, and it is the first time that two teammates have totaled 20 doubles. Caufield (22) is just one double away from tying his head coach Jon Shehan for second all-time and is two doubles away from tying Dan Stoltzfus' school record. Caufield's 73 RBIs is tied for second all-time. Four Marauders have at least 74 hits, and only the 2016 team was also able to pull off that feat. Bren Taylor's 76 runs scored has passed the school record by 10, and Jimmy Losh's 69 runs is also beyond the previous record. One more run by Caufield would join the 2022 and 2016 teams as the only ones to have three players with 60 runs scored. 
• Bren Taylor is triple shy of the Millersville single-season record, and Caufield is one homer shy of tying the single-season record held by Dan Stotlzfus. Caufield has already broken the total bases record shared by Dan and Mitch Stoltzfus. Caufield has 144, which topped the previous record of 138. 
• Only 20 players in Millersville history have hit over .400 in a season, and only 11 of those players played at least 40 games. Trainer (.430) and Taylor (.417) are bidding to be Millersville's first .400 hitters since 2016. Trainer's current average would rank eighth all-time. 
• Trainer was named the PSAC Tournament MVP after going 6-for-12 with six walks drawn and six RBIs. 
• Bren Taylor has been on an incredible tear. Since an 0-for-5 outing against West Chester on April 23, Taylor has put together a 12-game hitting streak with nine multi-hit games. He's hit .510 with two homers, six doubles and 16 RBIs in that stretch. While he doesn't have a 12-game hitting streak, Trainer has hit .500 with seven doubles, seven multi-hit games and 19 RBIs in that same span. Trainer has amazingly reached base in 51 of 53 games and has reached base in 34-straight games. 
• Millersville's projected game one starter is Ben Wilchacky, who is 9-1 with a 2.18 ERA. Wilchacky is one win away from becoming the 10th player in program history with at least 10 wins in a season. He's also four strikeouts shy of 10th. Wilchacky tossed seven shutout innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts in the PSAC Tournament opener and then returned in the championship game and pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings. 
• Millersville's bullpen was outstanding in the PSAC Tournament. Nate Young, now 6-0 with a 1.62 ERA and two saves, has not allowed a run and has given up only three hits over his last five outings spanning 11 1/3 innings. Kris Pirozzi gave the Marauders a season-high 3 2/3 strong innings vs. Slippery Rock. 
• Starter Conor Cook has also been outstanding at home. He is 4-2 with a 3.08 ERA in seven starts appearances. 
   

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES

• Charleston enters the regional receiving votes in the most recent Collegiate Baseball Poll. Robbie Britt is in his third season with the program and after the COVID-19-shortened season of 2020, he's led the Golden Eagles to at least 33 wins twice and back-to-back regional appearances. Charleston has reached the NCAA regional four years in a row. 
• The 2022 Golden Eagles powered their way through the Mountain East with a 25-7 conference record and went 4-1 in the conference tournament, losing the first game of championship Sunday by a 5-4 score to Glenville State. Charleston scored at least nine runs in each of the four tournament wins and blasted Glenville State 13-5 in the title game. 
• Charleston has three solid starting pitcher options for game one. Ethan Soderna (9-1, 3.43 ERA) and Colt Webb (8-2, 3.24 ERA) pitched 78 2/3 and 83 1/3 innings respectively and both were named All-Mountain East First Team. Webb threw seven shutout innings in game one of the MEC Tournament, but returned on two days rest and pitched six innings, allowing four runs against Glenville State in the title clincher. Soderna pitched seven shutout innings in the second round win over Fairmont State and then came back on one day of rest to pitch three innings in the title game. Soderna has allowed just one earned run in his last four appearances spanning 24 innings. Owen MacNeil (7-2, 3.38 ERA) has been outstanding lately. He gave up one run in seven innings against Concord in the MEC Tournament, and has allowed just one run and eight hits over his last 20 innings. 
• The Charleston lineup is led by All-MEC First Team catcher Tyler Dellerman and the MEC Freshman of the Year, first baseman Kyle West. Dellerman leads the team in hitting (.402), homers (12), RBIs (65), slugging (.724) and on base percentage (.496). West is a .344 hitter with eight homers and 14 doubles. 
• A match-up to watch Charleston's speed vs. Millersville's defense. Charleston is ultra-aggressive on the bases. Jordan Bailey has 35 steals, Braxton Boddorf has swiped 20 and West has 16. Millersville has been outstanding managing the running game. Opponents have stolen just 26 bases and have been caught stealing 16 times. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE GOLDEN EAGLES

• While Millersville and Charleston have played just six times, the two programs have become more acquainted in recent years, having played five times since 2017, including three times in NCAA regional play. Millersville is 3-2 against the Golden Eagles in that time with a 2-1 mark in postseason play. In 2018, Charleston upset tournament host Millersville 3-0 in the first round. The Marauders eventually fought its way through the loser's bracket with three wins and knocked out Charleston by a 17-8 score. The two teams met in an elimination game in 2021 as well, with Millersville winning 3-1 to advance to the regional championship round. 
• All-time meetings: 
  • 2005: Millersville 7, Charleston 6 (regular season)
  • 2017: Charleston 8, Millersville 3 (regular season)
  • 2017: Millersville 5, Charleston 3 (regular season
  • 2018: Charleston 3, Millersville 0 (regional first round)
  • 2018: Millersville 17, Charleston 8 (regional losers' bracket final)
  • 2021: Millersville 3, Charleston 1 (regional losers' bracket final)
• The Last Meeting: Millersville 3, Charleston 1 (May 29, 2021): Riding the right arm of freshman Conor Cook and gutsy bullpen outings from Aidan Welch, Wyatt Tyson and Christian Wingard, the Marauders got just enough offense and a fortunate break to top Charleston 3-1 in the late-night elimination game. Seth Nightingale no-hit the Marauders into the fifth, but Chase Simmons, making his first start since May 2, drew a one-out walk and swiped second base. Nightingale registered a strike out for out No. 2, and had Jimmy Losh down 0-2 when the Marauder second base ripped a single just inside the first base bag. Simmons raced home to break the scoreless tie. Bren Taylor then drew a walk to put runners on first and second for Luke Trainer. On Nightingale's first offering, Trainer hit a towering fly ball to shallow right field that got lost in the heavy mist and black sky. The Charleston fielders struggled to find the ball, and it dropped just outside the reach of the second baseman. Losh and Taylor, both running on contact, scored on the play for a 3-0 Millersville lead. Cook allowed just three hits and three walks over 6 2/3 innings.