MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Millersville baseball's home opener against Goldey-Beacom previously set for Saturday, March 2 has been moved to Friday, March 1 at 12 p.m. because of the possibility of rain. 

Friday's game is a match-up of nationally ranked teams as Millersville comes in at No. 6 and Goldey-Beacom is ranked No. 22 in this week's NCBWA Division II Poll. The Marauders are off to a 7-2 start, and Goldey-Beacom is the fifth team on the schedule that won at least 35 games last season and the fourth opponent that played in an NCAA regional. The Lightning are 6-2, coming off a 37-20 record.

Millersville enters the four-game series with pitcher Alex Mykut having won back-to-back PSAC East Pitcher of the Week awards, and first baseman Matthew Williams has already been voted the NCBWA Atlantic Region Hitter of the Week twice. Goldey-Beacom has produced plenty of early-season recognition as well with Justin Jump winning the CACC Pitcher of the Week award on Monday, Wyatt Atkinson winning the same award and Darin Miller winning the CACC Player of the Week on Feb. 19. 

SCOUTING THE TEAMS
Millersville's bats have produced at a high level through the first nine games, averaging 9.0 runs per game and scoring five or more in all seven wins. Five times the lineup has recorded at least 13 hits, and it has drawn 10 or more walks three times. Four Marauders are hitting over .400, led by Sam Morris' .483 average. Mark McNelly leads the team in RBIs (13) and OPS (1.374), and Williams paces the team in extra-base hits with nine. 

Goldey-Beacom boasts a .289 team batting average, led by Miller's .424 mark. Miller played at Millersville from 2020-2022, playing in 55 games. He hit .285 with seven homers and 51 RBIs for Goldey-Beacom last season. On the mound, Jump and Atkinson have been stellar. Neither pitcher as allowed a run in their first two starts. Jump has fanned 12 and allowed just five hits in 11 innings, and Atkinson has struck out five while walking four and allowing six hits in 10 innings. Millersville scored eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against Jump and four runs in two innings against Atkinson on March 5 last season. 

ABOUT THE SERIES
Millersville is 19-2 all-time against Goldey-Beacom, but the Lightning won the most recent meeting, topping the Marauders 4-2 in Wilmington on March 5, 2023. That snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Marauders. The first meeting between the programs was in 2017, and Millersville has scored double-digit runs 11 times. Millersville is 10-0 at Cooper Park against the Lightning. Last season, Millersville won three of four against the Lightning. Millersville won the opener 3-2 behind 6 1/3 innings from Mykut and a walk-off single from Bren Taylor in the bottom of the ninth. Carson Kulina threw a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts and no walks in Millersville's 10-0 game two win. Matthew Williams hit two homers, and Keegan Soltis and Sam Morris both hit one in a 15-9 game three win.