ABOUT THE SERIES

• Millersville, ranked No. 14 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll and No. 15 in the NCBWA Poll, are back at Cooper Park Friday for a nine-inning game against 19-18 Shippensburg. The Marauders are 13-1 at home while Shippensburg is 6-9 on the road. Millersville is tied for first place in the PSAC East (10-2) with East Stroudsburg. Shippensburg sits three games back in the loss column to both West Chester and Kutztown. Just four PSAC East series remain in the regular season. 
• Millersville bounced back from dropping two of three to East Stroudsburg by scoring 21 runs in Tuesday's non-conference game against Frostburg State. It was Millersville's second time this season scoring more than 20 runs. The top four hitters in Millersville's lineup combined for 13 hits, 13 RBIs and 11 runs scored. 
• In 14 PSAC East games, Millersville is hitting .279 with a .370 on base percentage while holding opponents to a .181 average and .270 OBP. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• A pair of Marauders are quickly making their way up Millersville's all-time rankings. Jimmy Losh will play in his 196th career game on Friday, moving him into a three-way tie with Tyler McDonald ‘15 and Torrey Bomberger ’00 for ninth all-time. Tuesday's performance at Frostburg State in which Losh scored two runs and had three hits moved him into a tie with Tyler Orris ‘16 for second in runs (198) and his 238 hits now rank fifth. He trails hall of famer Derek Kline ’11 by nine for fourth place. Losh also ranks eight in doubles. His seven this season has bumped him up to 44 in his career, knocking his coach, Jon Shehan out of the top 10. Losh also ranks second to teammate Bren Taylor in triples (11). Among active Division II players, Losh ranks 13th in career hits, 12th in career runs and 10th in triples. 
• Taylor has not even had three full seasons, but he's already compiled 217 hits (ranks eighth), scored 164 runs (ranks seventh), and set the school record with 13 triples. Taylor is tied with Coach Shehan with 40 doubles as well. Currently boasting a .415 batting average, Taylor is aiming to be just the third Marauder ever to hit .400 in back-to-back seasons and the first to do it since Bob Rossi and Jay Johnson in 1976-77. Taylor's feat is all the more impressive considering that Johnson and Rossi totaled just 115 at bats in those two seasons while Taylor had 214 at bats last season and 130 through 33 games in 2023. Taylor also hit .399 in 158 at bats in 2021, falling one hit shy of another .400 season. Taylor's current .404 career average ranks third all-time at Millersville. Only three players have ever finished with a career average over .400 and only Rossi played four seasons. Taylor could be the first Marauder since 1991 to close a career with a .400 batting average. 
• Taylor was the 2021 PSAC East Athlete of the Year, and last year's award winner, Thomas Caufield, has been arguably the team's best hitter over the last month. Since March 4, Caufield has hit .355 with a team-best .581 slugging percentage and .481 on base percentage. He's drawn a team-high 15 walks in the last 18 games and recorded eight doubles and two home runs for a team-high 36 total bases. Caufield has a hit in 12 of the last 14 games and is coming off his second three-hit game of the season. 
• Millersville's power numbers have dropped off lately. Keegan Soltis hit his third home run of the season on Tuesday, but in 14 PSAC East games, the Marauders have totaled just three home runs and 26 home runs through 33 games on the season (.788 per game). In 2022, Millersville averaged more than one home run per game and hit 22 in 24 PSAC East games. Millersville hit 48 in 45 games and 36 in 31 PSAC East games in 2021 as well. 
• Projected game one starter Carson Kulina was the tough-luck loser in last week's start against East Stroudsburg. Over six innings--his second-longest outing of the season--he allowed two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five. It was the first time all season that Kulina had allowed more than one run in an appearance. Kulina ranks third in the PSAC in ERA (1.50), sixth in batting average against (.200) and third in wins (6). Game two starter Ben Wilchacky is the PSAC leader in batting average against at .175. As a team, Millersville remains ranked first nationally in ERA (2.62), WHIP (1.12) and hits allowed per nine innings (6.73). 
   

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS

• Shippensburg opened the season by winning seven of its first nine games and sat at 16-7 on March 18 after taking the series against Bloomsburg. Since then, however, the Raiders are 3-9. At 19-18, the Raiders have played the second toughest schedule of any PSAC team and ranks 29th nationally in strength of schedule (.564). Only IUP (.618) ranks higher among PSAC teams. Millersville ranks fourth among PSAC teams and 35th nationally in strength of schedule (.559). 
• Finding consistent offense has been the culprit during the Raiders' recent slide. They scored just five total runs in a four-game stretch against Seton Hill and East Stroudsburg in March and have scored more than five runs just twice in the last 12 games. The Raiders rank 15th in the PSAC in batting average (.269) and on base percentage (.362). It is a team with some pop, however, as it ranks third in home runs hit with 28. Austin Baal ranks second in the PSAC in homers with nine. Shippensburg also has a knack for being hit by pitches, earning 48, which is third-most in the PSAC and nine off of West Chester's first-place pace. Baal is third in the league in walks drawn (27). Justin Byler ranks second among all PSAC hitters in hits with 50, trailing Millersville's Taylor by four. Shippensburg is susceptible to striking out as three of the top six strikeout totals in the PSAC belong to Raider hitters. 
• Shippensburg has a pair of workhorse arms in Noah Nabholz and J.T. Weaver. Nabholz leads the PSAC in innings pitched (55) and Weaver is third (50). Weaver's 59 strikeouts rank second and his 23 batters struck out looking rank first. Shippensburg has five pitchers with at least four starters, and four of those five have an ERA of 5.40 or higher. Gabe Stotler's 3.16 is the best of the bunch but he has not pitched since March 18. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Shippensburg holds a 113-81-1 lead in the all-time series, but lately, it has been all Millersville. Millersville has won 13 of the last 15 regular season games dating back to 2018, including series sweeps in 2018 and 2019. That isn't to say that the rivalry hasn't been competitive. Eight of those 15 games were decided by one run, but Millersville went 6-2 in those one-run games. Shippensburg head coach Matt Jones owns two regular season series wins over the Marauders since 2012. His Raiders swept the four-game series in 2012 and took three of four in 2017. Millersville has only been swept in a PSAC East series three times in Jon Shehan's 16 seasons. Since 2011, Millersville has lost just six PSAC East series. 
• Millersville has won nine-straight games at home against Shippensburg. The Raiders' last win at Cooper Park was by a 6-4 score in 2017. 
• Last season, Millersville took two of three in the series, sweeping a home doubleheader by scores of 9-0 and 9-3 while Shippensburg grabbed a 3-2 victory in the series opener. In that Raider win, they trailed 2-1 entering the eighth and won on a Joe Barbera walk-off single in the ninth off Sam Morris. Ben Wilchacky did not allow an earned run and surrendered just two hits in 5 2/3 innings. Chase Simmons hit a three-run home run in the second inning of Millersville's game two win. Taylor and Caufieldboth had three hits in Millersville's game three victory.