ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT

• Millersville baseball capped the regular season with its fourth-straight PSAC East title and starts the PSAC Tournament Wednesday as the No. 1 seed from the PSAC East looking to repeat as tournament champion. Millersville rolled to a 4-0 record at the 2022 tournament, winning the games by a combined score of 30-7. It was the second PSAC Championship for Coach Jon Shehan and the fifth in program history. Millersville is making its 11th-consecutive trip to the PSAC Tournament. Millersville has reached the championship game five times since 2014 and has won at least two games in 10 of their 12 tournament appearances under Shehan. Millersville has won eight-consecutive first-round games with three of those wins coming via shutout. Millersville has scored at least eight runs in each of the last six first-round games.
• This season's tournament features a single-elimination first round. The four advancing teams then begin a true double-elimination tournament. The winner between Millersville and IUP advance to play Thursday against the winner of the Mercyhurst/West Chester match-up.
• The last three tournament champs have come from the PSAC East and Seton Hill is the only PSAC West team to win a title since Mercyhurst's lone championship in 2011. Winning back-to-back titles isn't unheard of. Bloomsburg repeated in 2019 and 2021 (there was no tournament in 2020). Seton Hill won in 2017 and 2018. Kutztown won back-to-back in 2005 and 2006, Mansfield performed the feat in 1994-95 and 1992-93. The current eight-team tournament began in 2010.
• The PSAC Tournament is a bear to win. Over the last 23 tournaments, only five teams have entered as the No. 1 seed from either the East or West and went on to win. Millersville's 2022 and 2015 teams are the only No. 1 seeds to win the tournament in the last 10 years.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville has won 40 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2015-16, and the 2023 club is only the second team in Millersville history to win 40 in the regular season. The only other team to pull off that feat was the 2016 club that went 53-7 and reached the NCAA final. Millersville's 21-3 PSAC East record and .875 winning percentage is bested all-time only by the 25-3 (.892) record in 2016 and the 8-1 (.888) record in 1974. The 1974 team won the PSAC and the 2016 club reached the PSAC Tournament title game and won the Atlantic Regional.
• Millersville posted its impressive record despite playing the No. 16-ranked schedule in Division II and the toughest schedule of any team in the PSAC. The 18th-ranked toughest schedule in Division II belongs to first-round opponent IUP.
• Millersville is among the most balanced clubs in the conference, ranking second in the league in team average (.306), second in runs scored (470), second in doubles (104), first in triples (20), third in home runs (44), second in on base percentage (.407) and third in stolen bases (114). It is just the second time that Millersville has swiped 100 bags in a season, and it is 22 shy of the school record set by the 2016 team. The Mauders pair that offense with a pitching staff that ranks second in the PSAC (and second nationally) in ERA (3.14). The nation's top-three ERA leaders are from the PSAC (East Stroudsburg, Millersville and Seton Hill). Millersville leads the PSAC in batting average against (.219) and also ranks second in the league in strikeouts (386). The Marauders lead all of Division II in hits per nine innings (7.29) and is tied with Seton Hill for the best WHIP (1.18).
• On Tuesday afternoon it was revealed that Jon Shehan won his sixth PSAC East Coach of the Year award. Among active PSAC coaches, only Cal U's Mike Conte has won more. Bren Taylor was also named PSAC East Athlete of the Year for the second time. He is one of just four Marauders to win the award (Thomas Caufield '22, Chas McCormick '17 and Zach Stone '13), and he is the first Marauder to win it twice. Taylor is one of only five players in the history of the PSAC to win a division player of the year award twice.
• Taylor enters the tournament as the PSAC leader in hitting with a .411 average. He has now hit .399 or higher in each of the last three seasons and is seeking is second-straight .400 season--a feat that hasn't been accomplished at Millersville since Jay Johnson in 1976-77. No Marauder has ever hit over .400 twice while logging more than 62 at bats in a season. Taylor has 180 this season. Taylor's .404 average is arguably the most impressive in Millersville history as it has spanned 587 career at bats. The only players ranked above him are Mike McCarter (.410), who played just two seasons in 1990-91 and logged 210 at bats, and Mike VanGavree (.405), who played three seasons from 1988-90 and totaled 398 at bats. Taylor's 180 runs scored rank fifth all-time at Millersville. He also ranks sixth in hits with 237, 10th in RBIs (134) and 10th in doubles (45). He is the all-time leader in triples with 13.
• Taylor isn't the only Marauder climbing the record books. Jimmy Losh is now tied with Luke Trainer for sixth in career games played with 208. His 211 runs are just eight shy of Chas McCormick's school record of 219. Losh's 252 hits rank fourth and his 48 doubles are tied with hall of famer Dan Stoltzfus for seventh. Losh also ranks fourth in career walks, sitting 11 shy of Trainer's 123.
• Earlier today, Millersville became the first Marauder shortstop since hall of famer Phil Rossi to be named All-PSAC East First Team two times. In just two seasons, Caufield has mashed 25 home runs, placing him third all-time at Millersville, four shy of Cole Friese's record. On March 4, Caufield's average had dipped to .222 and he had not hit a home run in the team's first 16 games. Over the last 31 games, Caufield has hit .400 with 14 doubles, nine home runs, 37 RBIs, a .507 on base percentage and a .791 slugging percentage. Seven of Caufield's homers have been hit in the last 12 games. He's driven in 25 runs in that stretch. He now ranks fifth in the league in slugging percentage and RBIs while also tied for the lead in doubles (19). He sits just two homers behind a group of six leading the league with 11. One more double will make Caufield the first player in program history with 20 or more doubles in two seasons.
• Millersville has long been known for its aces in the starting rotation. Carson Kulina is carrying on that tradition with some of the PSAC's best numbers. Kulina ranks in the top 10 in ERA (2.03), batting average against (.221) and wins (7). Because of a weekend rain out and doubleheader against West Chester shifted t the middle of the week, Millersville will now have its three weekend arms--Kulina, Ben Wilchacky (7-2) and Alex Mykut (2-1) ready on full rest for the start of the PSAC Tournament. Millersville's pitching depth has been stunning. Matt Seibert made his second career start two weeks ago and won the PSAC East Pitcher of the Week award and followed that by pitching 6 1/3 shutout innings against Bloomsburg on the final day of the regular season. Garet Blankenbiller then made his second career start against a PSAC East team, pitched six shutout innings and struck out seven against Bloomsburg and won the weekly award the following Monday. Through 25 innings, Seibert boasts a 1.07 ERA and .140 batting average against. He has not allowed a run in his last 17 2/3 innings dating back to March 5. His last two outings have totaled 15 1/3 innings with six hits allowed and just two walks issued. Blankenbiller's last four outings include 20 1/3 innings pitched with four runs and 16 hits allowed. He is 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. Colby Gromlich will also factor into the tournament. He struck out seven and allowed one unearned run in 4 1/3 innings against West Chester on May 2 and then got two outs against Bloomsburg in relief last weekend. Evan Rishell has been stellar in the bullpen, posting a 0.94 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 18 appearances.
• Millersville is looking for a repeat of 2022 from Wilchacky. Last year, he pitched seven shutout innings and struck out 10 in the first round against Cal U. He returned three days later and pitched 1 2/3 innings shutout innings against East Stroudsburg in the title game. Because of COVID-19 cancellations and injuries, Mykut has not yet made a postseason appearance for Millersville. 
   

SCOUTING IUP

• Steve Kline is in his second season with the Crimson Hawks and has the program in the playoffs for the first time since 2017. IUP is peaking at the right time, winning seven of its last 10 games. Two of those losses were by one run to Mercyhurst on the road. IUP fought its way into the field with a three-game sweep of Gannon in the final series of the regular season. 
• As a team, IUP hits .285 while its pitchers allow a .286 average. Three hitters sit above .300. Davin Landers leads in average at .342 while Markus Cestra, a .338 hitter, leads the team with six homers, and Harrison Pontoli, hitting .337, ranks first in RBIs (40) and OBP (.446). The top starter on the team is Jeremiah Williams, who boasts a 2.82 ERA over 54 1/3 innings. He's logged five-plus innings in six-straight starts. 

SERIES HISTORY

• IUP has been a pesky opponent for Millersville during Jon Shehan's tenure at Millersville. While Millersville has won nine of the last 12 meetings and eight of 10 at neutral sites, IUP had a run of nine wins in 11 meetings from 2010-2014, going 6-3 against teams that eventually qualified for NCAA regionals. Each of the last 17 match-ups have taken place in the months of February and March. The teams have not played a postseason game since IUP's first round upset (6-5) of the No. 1-seeded 2011 club in Johnstown, Pa. That stands as IUP's only postseason win over Millersville. The other postseason meetings between the teams occurred in the 1974 and 1975 championship series, both of which Millersville won. That 1974 championship was Millersville's first. Millersville also beat IUP 5-4 in the first round of the 1998 tournament and went on to win that championship as well.