MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Teams are quickly finding out that you might be able to keep the Millersville lineup in check for a few innings, but it is really, really tough to do it for nine. On Tuesday, Sam Morris' bases-loaded double broke a 5-5 tie in the seventh, sparking a five-run inning and a 10-5 Millersville win over D'Youville. 

Morris, Keegan Soltis and Jeff Sabater all recorded three hits. Soltis reached base five times and started Millersville's scoring with an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the first. Soltis doubled before igniting Millersville's seventh-inning rally with a lead-off bunt single, giving him three consecutive multi-hit games.

"(Soltis) has been really good," said Shehan. "We were hoping he could take it to the next level and not just be the good player he has been for three years but be a great player. He's off to a good start."

Millersville received a hit from eight of the nine starters and scored double-digit runs for the fourth time in five games and for the seventh time in 12 games overall. The Marauders received exceptional production from the Nos. 8, 9, 1 and 2 spots in the lineup, accounting for nine of the team's 15 hits. In that group was No. 9 hitter, freshman Donis Rodriguez, who hit the first home run of his career in the fourth inning and finished with his first multi-hit game. 

"He's got some legit juice," said Shehan. "It's not his game, but it's in there. We know he's capable. He got a good call from his mom last night, and she challenged him. Sometimes the ladies in our life need to speak some wisdom into us, and he came out more aggressive. He made some really good in-at-bat adjustments that I was pleased with. He's a good player, he's just got to trust it."

Rodriguez entered the day leading the PSAC in walks and has now hit in four-straight games. 

Millersville starting pitcher Joe Morrissey pitched perfect baseball for the first four innings, producing an immaculate third inning with nine pitches, nine strikes and three strikeouts. He also fanned the first batter of the fourth on three pitches. Morrisey allowed two in the fifth and then ran into trouble in the sixth with back-to-back one-out singles. Millersville went to the bullpen, but both inherited runners scored, tagging Morrisey with four runs allowed. But for the second-straight start, Morrissey did not walk a batter and he fanned seven. 

"(Morrissey) looked like the kid we thought we were getting," said Shehan. "It just took a little while to get going. He made a little adjustment, and he's not a two-way guy anymore, not taking BP and ground balls at first base. He looked comfortable early until they got him into the stretch...It goes back to trusting your training, and we have to make our biggest pitches out of the stretch. It's going to happen in PSAC play, the regional, the World Series, you have to make pitches out of the stretch."

Millersville led 5-2 when Morrissey left the game, but the bullpen could not hold the lead. D'Youville took the decision away from Morrissey with an RBI on a fielder's choice in the seventh. But the Millersville bats answered. 

Soltis started with the bunt single. Matthew Williams lined a single to left. Bren Taylor dropped down another bunt single, and with the bases loaded, Morris belted a deep fly to the warning track in left-center that scored two. Amani Jones was later hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. One batter later, Sabater hit a bouncer over the pitcher and beat out the throw. Sammy Laux scored on the contact, and Jones, who started on second, sprinted home with heads-up base running. 

Gavin Lill (1-1) picked up the mound win for the Marauders. He got out of a two-on, two-out situation in the seventh with one pitch, sat down the Saints in order in the eighth, and retired the final three batters of the ninth after a leadoff single. 

Millersville is now 3-0 all-time against D'Youville

UP NEXT
Millersville travels to Jefferson on Wednesday for a nine-inning game. The Marauders beat Jefferson 13-3 on March 4.