ABOUT THE NCAA REGIONAL

• Millersville and Seton Hill meetings in the NCAA Atlantic Regional have become inevitable. In a rematch of the 2023 Super Regional that Millersville won with back-to-back wins, the Marauders and Griffins collide in the first game of the 2024 NCAA Atlantic Regional hosted at East Stroudsburg. Millersville (37-14) is the No. 3 seed, and Seton Hill (36-14) enters as the No. 6. East Stroudsburg (41-12) is the host, and first-time NCAA Tournament qualifier Frostburg State (37-14) is the No. 7 seed.
• With its 11th consecutive NCAA regional appearance, Millersville holds the third-longest active streak in Division II. This is the 12th regional for Coach Jon Shehan, while Seton Hill and Coach Marc Marizzaldi make their 13th all-time trip to the regional. Millersville won regional titles in 2011, 2016 and 2023. Seton Hill won the regional in 2014 and 2021. East Stroudsburg is a regional host for the first time after winning its first PSAC East title. ESU and Frostburg State seek their first regional championship. Mercyhurst (2017 and 2018) is the only program in the last 22 years to win back-to-back NCAA Atlantic Regional titles. 
• The two head coaches are among the most successful in Division II history. Shehan ranks 26th all-time in career winning percentage (.685) and Marizzaldi is 39th (.667). Marizzaldi earned his 700th career win in 2024 while Shehan is six wins away from his 600th. Among active DII coaches, Shehan ranks 13th in winning percentage and Marizzaldi is 16th.
• Both teams made first-round exits at the PSAC Tournament, but history shows that conference tournament performances have little bearing on NCAA regional outcomes. In 2023, Millersville lost in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament and went on to win its next six NCAA Tournament games, making a World Series appearance. Winning the PSAC Championship and the NCAA regional in the same season is a feat that has been accomplished just twice in the last 20 years. The 2012 West Chester team, which went on to win the national championship, was the last team to do it, and West Chester also pulled it off in 2009.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville is 8-9 over the last 17 games and enters the regional with its first five-game losing streak since 2012. Millersville has averaged just 3.4 runs per game since April 13, scoring three runs or fewer seven times. But there is reason for optimism. Millersville scored 11 runs, drawing 10 walks in the last two games. Four of the last five losses were decided by two or fewer runs, and three ended with an opponent walk-off. Millersville has not lost six in a row since March of 2008--Shehan's first season at Millersville. Those Marauders righted course and won the PSAC East.
• Despite its recent woes, Millersville's offense still ranks third in the PSAC in batting average (.310), trailing only West Chester and ESU--the region's top two seeds. Millersville also leads the conference in stolen bases and ranks second in home runs. Several key Marauders are heating up at the right time. Matthew Williams has a hit in six of the last seven games, going 10 for 25 (.400) with seven RBIs. He went 3 for 4 against IUP in the PSAC Tournament. Sam Morris is riding a five-game hitting streak with three runs scored in the last two games. Jeff Sabater is also on a five-game hitting streak with seven stolen bases in that stretch.
• Williams is one home run from becoming the 12th player in program history with double-digit homers in a season. His career 17 homers are the most by a Marauder during their freshman and sophomore seasons, and he is just three away from cracking the career top 10 for homers. Williams is also the first Marauder to record 40 or more RBIs in their first two seasons.
• With 163 stolen bases, Millersville has already smashed the 2016 team's program record and now ranks fifth in PSAC history. The Marauders are 21 steals behind East Stroudsburg's 184 set in 2023.  Millersville has 55 more steals than any other team in the conference. Sabater is the all-division national leader and PSAC record holder with 57. Only 15 players in Division II history have stolen 60 bases in a season, and it's a feat that's been accomplished just six times in the last 20 years. Mark McNelly is second in the PSAC, swiping 30 bases in 31 tries. Before this season, a Marauder had stolen 30 bases in a season just five times.
• Morris has put together his second consecutive season with at least 30 runs, 30 RBIs, 15 steals, and a .340 batting average. He joins Bren Taylor (2022-23), Tyler Orris (2015-16), Chas McCormick (2016-17) as the only Marauders to accomplish that feat. He's one of the toughest players in the country to strike out as he's fanned just nine times in 164 at-bats. That ratio ranks ninth in Division II. Morris has drawn 21 walks as well. Morris has struck out just 40 times in 460 career plate appearances.
• The duo of Carson Kulina and Alex Mykut gave Millersville two All-PSAC East First Team starting pitchers for the first time since 2015. Kulina is now one of six Marauder starters to be named to the first team two times. Kulina joins Eli Nabholz (2017-18) and Brandon Miller (2015-16) as one of just three Millersville pitchers to record 70 or more strikeouts in back-to-back seasons. Kulina's 18 wins since 2023 are the third-most in a two-year stretch by a Marauder and the most by a Marauder since Brandon Miller won 24 in 2015-16, and Chris Murphy won 21 in 2014-15.
• Mykut leads the PSAC and ranks second in Division II with a 1.86 ERA. He also ranks 10th nationally in WHIP (0.96). As a team, Millersville ranks sixth in ERA and second in strikeouts per nine innings. Kulina and Mykut are the second Millersville tandem ever and the first since Tim Mayza and Chris Murphy in 2013 to record 80 or more strikeouts. 
   

SCOUTING SETON HILL

• Starting pitchers Aidan Layton and Brandon Bergert give the Griffins an outstanding 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. Layton was an All-PSAC West First Team selection and Bergert earned second team honors. Pitching has been key to Seton Hill's success as the Griffins rank second in the PSAC with a 3.67 ERA and boast a conference-best .232 batting average against. Seton Hill's pitchers rarely issue free passes. They've walked just .34 batters per inning while striking out 1.0 per inning. Bergert was an All-American in 2023, and Layton was an all-region selection. Neither pitcher has pitched since the final regular season series. Jon McCullough, who pitched in the super regional against Millersville last season, started game one of the PSAC Tournament against Shippensburg, allowing two runs in 4 2/3 innings.
• Four Seton Hill regulars were also in the lineup in last season's super regional, but the Griffins have not been as productive on offense.  Seton Hill ranks seventh in the PSAC in batting average and fifth in runs scored. Jack Whalen enters the regional hitting .256 after batting .332 in 2023. Similarly, Owen Sabol is at .273 after hitting .351 last season. Braden Durham, an all-region first-team selection in 2023, saw his average drop from .315 to .286. Jack Oberdorf is the exception. The incredibly consistent graduate student has posted a career-high batting average (.360) and on-base percentage (.441). Oberdorf is a three-time All-PSAC West First Team selection and is likely on his way to a third All-Atlantic Region honor. 
• Coach Marizzaldi won his second consecutive and eighth overall PSAC West Coach of the Year award in leading the Griffins to the PSAC West title. Owen Mandler won the PSAC West Freshman of the Year award. 

SERIES HISTORY

• There is no shortage of postseason history between these two teams and these two coaches. The programs have met 23 times since the first-ever meeting, which fittingly came in the second round of the 2011 Atlantic Regional. Of those 23 games, 11 have been played in the NCAA Tournament. Millersville and Seton Hill squared off for the regional title in 2014, 2021 and 2023. Seton Hill won the first two while Millersville won it last year. Millersville's runs to Cary in 2011 and 2016 featured second-round wins over Seton Hill.
• Fifteen of 23 games have been played on a neutral field with Seton Hill holding a 9-6 advantage. Millersville is 5-0 all-time at home including last season's sweep in the super regional.
• Prior to the 2023 super regional, Seton Hill had won four in a row and seven of nine, including three consecutive NCAA regional games. Millersville has found success by out-scoring Seton Hill, going 10-2 when scoring at least six runs. Millersville is 2-9 when scoring five runs or fewer. Those two wins include an extra-inning triumph at home in 2018 in which Eric Callahan hit a 13th-inning walk-off single, and a 2-1 win in the 2016 regional that saw Brandon Miller pitch a complete game and Chas McCormick make a game-saving catch in the ninth.
• In the 2023 super regional, Millersville totaled 20 runs. Millersville hit four home runs as Kulina beat Jon McCullough in game one. Cole Houser drove in three with his two homers. Justin Taylor also hit one. Keegan Soltis and Matthew Williams both hit homers in the 11-6 game two win, and Sam Morris went 3 for 4 with four RBIs.
• Millersville vs. East Stroudsburg and Frostburg State: Millersville and East Stroudsburg split their 2024 regular season series with each team sweeping home doubleheaders. Millersville and ESU have split the last 10 meetings but have played just six times in the postseason since Shehan and John Kochmansky took over their teams in 2008. The teams are 1-1 in NCAA regional play. Millersville is 4-0 all-time against Frostburg State, most recently winning 21-4 in 2023. Frostburg State has won at least 33 games in each of the last three seasons since making the transition from Division III to Division II.