ABOUT THE NCAA REGIONAL

• The NCAA Atlantic Regional returns to Millersville for the third time in four years as the 40-8 Marauders earned the region's No. 1 seed and hosts a three-team bracket. On the opposite side of the regional bracket, Seton Hill hosts four teams. The winners of the double-elimination Millersville site and Seton Hill site will meet on May 26-27 in a best-of-three super regional for the right to go to the NCAA Division II Championship in Cary, N.C. Standing in Millersville's way this weekend are two familiar foes that are no stranger to NCAA regional play. Charleston is playing in its fifth-straight regional and making its third trip to a Millersville-hosted site. Charleston advanced to the super regional in 2019 and came within one win of doing it again in 2022. West Chester is making its 15th regional appearance since 2003. During that stretch, West Chester won five regional titles as well as national championships in 2012 and 2017. West Chester is the defending Atlantic Region champ. Since 2011, Millersville been the model of consistency in the region. The Marauders are playing in their 10th consecutive regional, which is the longest active streak in the region. Millersville won regionals in 2011 and 2016--both times as hosts.
• Historically, Millersville has been outstanding at Cooper Park, going 192-58-1 (.767) at the park since 2011. The Marauders went 19-2 at home this season and are attempting to win a 20th home game for just the third time in program history (2022, 2016). Unfortunately for the Marauders, that success has not carried over to the postseason. In the two previous regionals played at Cooper Park, the Marauders went 1-4. In 2019, Millersville lost to Bloomsburg 2-1 and then was eliminated by Mercyhurst, 2-0. Last season, the Marauders hosted a four-team bracket and beat Charleston 9-4 in the opener. However, East Stroudsburg handed the Marauders a 12-7 loss in game two, and Charleston eliminated Millersville, 17-5.
• The good news for Millersville fans is that historically, seeding matters in the NCAA Regional. Since 2011, a No. 1 seed has won the Atlantic Regional six times and the No. 2 seed has won twice. The outliers were Shippensburg's 2013 win as a No. 6, Seton Hill winning as a No. 3 in 2014 and Mercyhurst winning as a No. 5 in 2018. Millersville's 2011 and 2016 titles were won as the No. 1 seed.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• In 21 home games, Millersville hit .316 while allowing a .198 batting average. Millersville also totaled 73 extra-base hits while allowing just 22 at Cooper Park. The Marauders also stole 45 bases in home games. Millersville's 114 stolen bases on the season rank second in program history. Bren Taylor, who leads the region with a .415 batting average, is an outstanding hitter in any park, but he boasts a .442 average (.360 on the road) with 11 extra-base hits in 21 home games. Similarly, Jimmy Losh is a .426 hitter with a .550 OBP at home (.343/.449 on the road). Sam Morris sees a 100-point difference in his average from home to road. He hit .346 at home compared to .246 on the road. On the mound, Matt Seibert has not allowed a single run and just six hits in 16 2/3 innings at home. Evan Rishell also has not allowed a run in 11 2/3 innings at The Coop. Carson Kulina owns a 5-0 record and 1.49 ERA over 36 1/3 innings at home. Road teams are hitting just .182 against him.
• Losh enters the regional just eight runs shy of Chas McCormick's career record of 219. Losh also ranks fourth in career hits (252), tied for seventh in career doubles (48) and is second only to Taylor in career triples (12). Taylor ranks fifth in career runs (181), sixth in hits (239) and 10th in doubles.
• Taylor is one of four players in the entire region hitting over .400, and his .415 average is at the top of the list. Two of the other three are also playing in the postseason, and one of them, Kyle West of Charleston, will hit at Cooper Park on Thursday. Taylor's .509 OBP is second only to Seton Hill's Vincenzo Rauso among PSAC hitters. Only three players in the PSAC posted an OBP over .500. Charleston alone has three players with an OBP of .500 or higher, and six Golden Eagles rank in the top 11 of the Mountain East in OBP.
• While Taylor became the first Marauder to win two PSAC East Athlete of the Year awards, the 2022 winner, Thomas Caufield, made a case to repeat. Caufield enters the regional ranked fifth among PSAC players in slugging percentage, sixth in RBIs, fourth in doubles and tied for eighth in home runs. Caufield is one double away from becoming the first player in program history with back-to-back season with 20 doubles. Remarkably, Caufield sits second on Millersville's all-time home run list despite playing just two seasons in Black & Gold. 
   

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

• West has posted gaudy numbers for the Golden Eagles, leading the Mountain East in hitting, doubles, home runs, total bases, slugging percentage and OBP. He hit three of his 22 home runs in the MEC Tournament and has hit seven homers in the last 11 games. Catcher Tyler Dellerman, an All-American a season ago and the 2023 MEC Player of the Year, has turned in another stellar season at the plate with 17 homers and 15 doubles while slashing .366/.493/.754. As a team, Charleston hits .328 with a 1.042 combined OPS. Three hitters boast double-digit home runs. West, Dellerman and Clay Hale have combined for 49 home runs--five more than Millersville and 15 more than West Chester hit all season. On the mound, only two of the eight pitchers with 20-plus innings pitched have an ERA under 4.00. However, Cole Peschl has been lights out lately. He's made four starts and 17 appearances and has allowed just one run over his last 24 1/3 innings. He made his longest outing of the season against West Virginia State on May 5 and threw seven shutout innings with 12 strikeouts. Peschl was an All-MEC First Team selection.
• West Chester advanced to the PSAC Championship game with its only two losses of the tournament coming to Seton Hill. After an extra-inning win over Mercyhurst in game one, West Chester beat IUP by scores of 10-0 and 7-2 between 14-4 and 10-0 losses to Seton Hill. West Chester hits .293 as a team and doesn't hit for much power, as they rank eighth in the PSAC in slugging percentage. But it is a veteran group that has six starters back from last year's regional championship team. West Chester also boasts plenty of team speed as five players have swiped 10 bases and the team has totaled 125 in 144 tries. Joe Kaleck owns 34 steals to go with a team-leading 15 doubles and 49 RBIs. On the mound, redshirt freshman Julian Costa has been the team's ace, and he already owns a win over Millersville at Cooper Park. Junior righty Joe Sperone is coming off a brilliant eight-inning start against IUP in the PSAC Tournament in which he did not allow a run.

SERIES HISTORY

• In one of the most competitive rivalries in the Atlantic Region, Millersville holds a slight 29-28 edge against West Chester since 2009. Since 2008, Millersville and West Chester are the only two teams that have won PSAC East titles and they've combined for five Atlantic Regional titles since 2011. West Chester has won three-straight games over Millersville at Cooper Park, including a 6-5 decision this year that stands as one of Millersville's two home losses. All three games this season were decided by one run as Millersville took games two and three of the series at West Chester by scores of 5-4 and 7-6. Caufield went 6-for-12 with a home run and six RBIs in this season's series. Millersville's starting pitchers did not fare well against West Chester as none of three made it through five innings. Despite the success of both teams, Millersville and West Chester have played just twice in NCAA regionals. West Chester won in the 2015 first round by a 5-0 score. Millersville beat West Chester 7-6 in the losers' bracket in 2018.
• Millersville and Charleston colliding in the regional has become inevitable. The teams have met four times since 2018 and have evenly split those meetings. Millersville eliminated Charleston in 2018 and 2021, but Charleston bounced the Marauders in 2022. The first meeting between the teams came in 2005, and Millersville holds a slight 5-3 edge in the series since.