PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Alex Kuehn, making his first start of the season, tossed five shutout innings, and the 24th-ranked Millersville Marauders pulled away in the late innings for an 8-3 road win over Jefferson.
Kuehn had not pitched since a relief appearance on Feb. 8, but he returned to the rotation with authority, striking out seven batters while surrendering just three hits and a walk. The bullpen did the rest.
Tucker Chamberlin struck out three in two perfect innings.
Evan Rishell needed just eight pitches to complete the eighth. All of Jefferson's runs were scored in the ninth when Millersville led 8-0.
"Kuehn was outstanding," said Millersville head coach
Jon Shehan. "He worked ahead and mixed three pitches on the plate. Jefferson has a competitive lineup, and he handled it extremely well today. Chamberlin also did a fantastic job, and I was very happy to see Rishell go out and get the job done too."
At the plate,
Sam Morris went 3 for 5, and
Bren Taylor went 2 for 5 with three RBIs.
Jeff Sabater scored three runs and swiped his 16th base of the season. The Marauders took full advantage of Jefferson's four fielding errors as only three of the eight runs were earned.
"We hit the ball hard today," said Shehan. "I think I counted eight-nine barreled outs. It's just a matter of time that we break a game open if we continue to put together quality at-bats, especially when Jefferson gave us a few opportunities late."
It was a 2-0 game entering the top of the eighth, and Millersville's first two runs were set-up by Jefferson errors. Taylor helped break open the game in the eighth with a two-run single. The Marauders widened the gap in the ninth as
Sammy Laux scored a wild pitch,
Keegan Soltis drove in
Amani Jones with a sacrifice fly, Taylor recorded his second RBI hit of the game, and Sabater scored on Jefferson's fourth error.
Taylor boosted his career hits total to 274 and now trails Tyler Orris '16 by one for second all-time at Millersville. He also jumped Ben Snyder '19 for fifth in career RBIs with 154.
Millersville is back at Cooper Park on Friday at 7 p.m., beginning a three-game weekend series with Lock Haven.
