MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – Dominant pitching and timely offense led Millersville to a sweep of Bloomsburg as the Marauders closed out the regular season with a pair of shutout victories.
 
Freshman southpaw Matt Seibert (2-1) set the tone in game one of the doubleheader, tossing 6.1 innings of shutout ball as he allowed just two hits, both of which were singles. The reigning PSAC East pitcher of the week followed up his nine-inning shutout of Wilmington with a season high five strikeouts as he carved through the Huskie lineup. Seibert has allowed just one extra base hit in 25 1/3 innings this season as his ERA dropped to 1.07 across nine appearances.
 
The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the fifth as Justin Taylor and Matthew Williams connected on back-to-back singles. Taylor singled to right, advanced to second on a balk and then scored on the Williams base hit to left field. The two out rally ended up being enough support for Seibert and Colby Gromlich, who earned his first save of the season by inducing a game ending 6-4-3 double play.
 
Game one featured just five combined hits, all of which were singles as Millersville capitalized on one of the few Bloomsburg mistakes to pick up the 1-0 victory.
 
Game two had a similar pace with sophomore righty Garet Blankenbiller (5-0) tossing his best outing of the season. Blankenbiller threw six shutout innings as he struck out seven batters while allowing just one hit and one walk.
 
"It was an interesting week because of having West Chester mid-week and we put some pressure of Seibert and Blankenbiller there and they both came up and rose to the occasion and did a great job," head coach Jon Shehan said.
 
The Marauders received most of their offense in an eight run fourth inning. Cole Houser led off the frame with a walk before Sam Morris and Keegan Soltis hit back-to-back triples to open the scoring. Williams followed with a two-run home run, his eighth of the season, to make it a 4-0 'Ville lead. Thomas Caufield and Houser added an RBI single and double to increase the lead to seven. Pinch hitter Tyler Wright brought the final run of the frame home as he slapped the first pitch he saw to left field. In total, the Marauders sent 12 men to the plate and recorded six hits in the inning.
 
Millersville tacked on an extra run in the fifth as Caufield connected on his second RBI single in as many innings, plating Williams who had led off with a walk.
 
"Matthew Williams had a big day. It (the team offense) comes down to just putting quality at bats together," Shehan said. "I think we were perfect in situational hitting opportunities in game two."
 
The bullpen combination of Rece Ritchey, Logan Layton and Kris Pirozzi gave up zero hits over the final three innings, closing the door on the regular season and giving Millersville its 40^th win of the year. The 9-0 win was the sixth shutout of the season for the Marauder staff.
  Millersville finished the regular season with five straight wins as the team won 14 of its final 15 games.
 
"The process is still the same, it's about winning baseball games, getting quality pitching, good defense and timely hitting," Shehan said.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Caufield, Williams and Wright all recorded two hits in the regular season finale.
• Millersville hit three triples in the final game, giving them 20 three baggers on the season.
• The Marauders outscored the Huskies 20-3 over the three-game series sweep.
• Jimmy Losh went 1-for-2 with three walks in his final regular season game.
• 'Ville outhit Bloomsburg 14-to-3 over the course of the doubleheader.
• The Marauder pitching staff did not allow an extra base hit as the Huskies failed to get a runner past second base in either game.
• Millersville finished the regular season with a 40-7 overall record, going 21-3 in PSAC action and 19-2 at Cooper Park.

UP NEXT
The Marauders head to the PSAC Championship Tournament as the number one seed in the Eastern Division. Play begins Wednesday, May 10, at Slippery Rock University.