ABOUT THE SERIES

• The only two programs that have won a PSAC East title since 2008 will again play a role in the outcome as No. 7 Millersville and No. 17 West Chester clash in the regular season's finale four-game series. The Marauders and Golden Rams have monopolized the PSAC East over the last 15 years with Millersville winning the division 10 times and West Chester winning it five times. It is a rivalry that has seen Millersville hold a slight 20-19 edge since 2014. The two teams last met in the NCAA Atlantic Regional, and the stakes could not be higher for the home-and-home doubleheaders on Thursday and Friday. Millersville is ranked seventh in the ABCA poll, and the teams occupy the top two spots in this week's NCBWA Atlantic Region poll.
• Millersville enters the series tied for first place in the East with East Stroudsburg, and West Chester looms two games back. The Golden Rams won three of four from East Stroudsburg last weekend, giving them any head-to-head tiebreaker with the Warriors. Millersville and ESU split their season series, so Millersville needs three wins over West Chester and an ESU loss against Kutztown or a sweep of West Chester to win the PSAC East outright. With Millersville, West Chester, and East Stroudsburg's records so similar, the results of this series will also play a significant role in who the two NCAA Atlantic Regional hosts will be.
• The series is a match-up of strengths as Millersville pits its PSAC-leading ERA and conference-best 8.6 strikeouts per game against a West Chester lineup that leads the PSAC in average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, doubles and triples. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville earned a sweep of Shepherd last weekend, but it wasn't easy. Millersville won the opener 2-1, broke late ties for 5-3 and 4-2 wins in games two and three, and then rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win game four, 9-3. Millersville is 18-4 over its last 22 games, but after scoring eight or more runs 18 times in the season's first 34 games, the Marauders have scored more than five runs just once in the last 12, producing an 8-4 record in that stretch. Millersville was hitting .335 as a team and averaging 2.8 extra-base hits per game entering the East Stroudsburg series, but over the last three PSAC East series, the Marauders have hit .253 with 1.4 extra-base hits per game. Millersville has also hit just .265 with runners in scoring position.
• A bright spot for the lineup continues to be Mark McNelly, who is riding an eight-game hitting streak and has scored five runs in the last four games. Cole Houser went 6 for 9 with four runs, two homers and four RBIs over the final three games of the Shepherd series. Justin Taylor's bat is also heating up as he broke a 0 for 14 stretch with four hits in his last six at-bats.
• Millersville, however, continues to rank second in the PSAC in batting average (.315), runs (6.9 per game), home runs (38), first in stolen bases, and third in on-base percentage (.413).
• Jeff Sabater maintains his standing as the NCAA leader--regardless of division--in stolen bases. After swiping five bags against Shepherd, Sabater pushed his season total to 50--six clear of Phil Krpata of Queens. He is just two stolen bases from tying the PSAC record held by Seton Hill's Jack Whalen (2023).
• Millersville has successfully navigated its way through its offensive slump with pitching and defense. The Marauders rank second in the PSAC in field percentage at .974. That's on pace to be Millersville's best fielding percentage since the 2011 club set the school record at .979. Millersville ranks 17th nationally in fielding, and of the 245 teams in Division II, only 45 teams are fielding at .970 or better.
• Millersville posted a 3.64 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings in the last 12 games, and the Marauders now rank third nationally in ERA (3.40), trailing only Pace (3.12) and Tampa (3.00). Alex Mykut ranks second in Division II in ERA and first in the PSAC at 1.51. No Marauder starting pitcher has posted an ERA under 2.00 since Brandon Miller's 1.45 ERA in 2016. Mykut is five strikeouts away from tying Miller for fifth in career strikeouts (230). He is also one win away from becoming the ninth Marauder to win 10 games in a season.
• Carson Kulina's career-high 13 strikeouts against Shepherd last week also earned him his ninth win of the season. Kulina's 18 wins over the last two seasons are the most by a Marauder since Brandon Miller won 24 in 2015-16. Kulina's five complete games are also the most since Eli Nabholz's six in 2017, and he is three shy of tying the school record shared by Miller (2016) and Chris Murphy (2013). Kulina is an incredible 18-2 in his 27 career appearances, and that .900 winning percentage is currently the best in program history among pitchers with at least 11 decisions. Murphy's 33-4 record and .892 winning percentage is the current standard. Kulina currently ranks fifth in the PSAC in ERA (2.07) and leads the conference with 81 strikeouts. He is in an exclusive 80-strikeout club of Marauders that includes Jay Dimler (1987), Murphy (2013), Miller (2015-16), Eli Nabholz (2017-18) and Cordell Shannon (2019).
• Kulina and Mykut have both been stellar against the PSAC East. Kulina is 6-1 with a 1.17 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, five complete games, 54 strikeouts to eight walks and a .225 batting average against. Mykut is 5-1 with a 1.73 ERA, three complete games, 0.92 WHIP, 42 strikeouts to 11 walks, and a .184 batting average against. 
   

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN RAMS

• By any metric, West Chester boasts the best lineup in the PSAC. The Golden Rams are hitting .330 with a .444 on-base percentage and average 8.2 runs per game. The team has slashed .324/.442/.461 against the PSAC East. Three players own an OPS over 1.000 in PSAC East play. Of the 10 players with at least 20 starts, nine are hitting over .300. That bunch is led by Anthony Boccio, who is not only hitting .413 but owns a PSAC-leading .564 OBP. Boccio has struck out just 18 times while drawing 36 walks and 11 HBP. Boccio (51), Joe Kaleck (50) and Evan Profy (42) rank 1-2-3 in the PSAC in runs scored.
• West Chester started the season 10-0 before being swept by Shippensburg. The Golden Rams responded with 21 consecutive wins. They have since gone 4-2 with a 9-7 loss at home to Shepherd and an 8-0 loss at East Stroudsburg.
• On the mound, West Chester is sixth in the conference in ERA (4.04) and seventh in batting average against (.251). Julina Costa and Joe Sperone are both returning starters. Costa was the PSAC East Freshman of the Year in 2023, and Sperone has a 23-7 career record with 228 2/3 innings pitched. The Golden Rams have an outstanding bullpen with Dylan Howanitz (4-0, 2.16 ERA) and Kyle Lazer (3-2, 4 saves, 3.91 ERA) as the anchors. Lazer missed last season with an injury but as an All-PSAC East First Team and All-Atlantic region second team election in 2022.

SERIES HISTORY

• Since 2011, Millersville and West Chester have created one of the nation's most competitive and high-stakes rivalries. West Chester is the only PSAC program with a winning record against Millersville since Jon Shehan took over 2008, but that record is buoyed by winning 12 of the 13 games. Since 2011, Millersville is 29-21 against West Chester. Since 2008, West Chester has won three PSAC Tournament titles and four NCAA titles while Millersville has won two PSAC Tournaments and three regional championships. 
• Millersville has won the last four games against West Chester, responding to West Chester's own four-game winning streak that included a 2022 season sweep. In 2023, West Chester edged Millersville 6-5 at Cooper Park behind three hits and three RBIs from Joe Kaleck, but Millersville won the final two games of the series on the road, clinching the PSAC East. Millersville rallied from a 3-0 deficit with five runs in the sixth inning to win game two of the series, 5-4. Thomas Caufield hit a 3-run home run that tied the game. Evan Rishell picked up the win with 2 2/3 innings of relief. In the series finale, Sam Morris and John Seibert hit home runs for a 7-6 win. The teams collided again at Cooper Park in the NCAA Atlantic Regional with Millersville winning both games by scores of 8-5 and 6-4. Millersville totaled 15 hits with three apiece from Morris and Keegan Soltis in the first regional game, and then scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth of the clincher. Alex Mykut pitched four innings of relief, and Rishell again earned the win with 2 1/3 perfect innings. 
• Six of the last eight games have been decided by three runs or fewer. Millersville 7-11 at West Chester and 11-6 at home since 2014.