MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - When No. 8 and No. 9 hitters produce like Amani Jones and Donis Rodriguez, it makes a team awfully tough to beat. Jones and Rodriguez combined for seven hits, leading No. 16 Millersville to a doubleheader sweep of Bloomsburg by scores of 6-2 and 8-4 Thursday at Cooper Park. 

The Marauders' middle infield pairing totaled four of Millersville's seven hits and scored three of the team's six runs in game one and initiated a come-from-behind win in game two, totaling three hits, a walk, and Rodriguez's second-inning RBI single that got Millersville rolling after falling behind 2-0 early. 

"To have that kind of production is huge," said Millersville head coach Jon Shehan. "We try to recruit and develop to not have any outs in the lineup. Donis has been really good the last three weeks. He's really turned it on and played great baseball. Amani's stats don't show how good he's been because he's hit into some line-outs. He's been consistent."

Millersville coasted in game one, jumping out to a 6-0 lead before Bloomsburg scored a run. Millersville starter Conor Cook retired the first nine Huskies he faced and struck out eight while walking just one over five innings, improving to 5-1. Bloomsburg only seriously threatened in the sixth, putting two on base with one out. But Evan Rishell entered out of the bullpen and quickly got out of the jam. He picked up his fourth save of the season with an easy seventh inning. 

Millersville needed a similar bullpen effort from Gavin Lill in game two. Lill entered in the sixth with the tying run at the plate. After hitting the first batter, he retired the side, and after Millersville broke open the game with two more runs in the seventh, Lill sat down the Huskies in order in the seventh. 

"Rish has been ultra-consistent the last two weeks," said Shehan. "Lill has been really good with just one bad outing all year. Other than that, he's been super consistent."

Jimmy Kirk played a key role in Millersville's comeback. Millersville trailed 3-1 in the third inning until Kirk tied the game with an RBI single. A balk pushed the go-ahead run home, and Kirk scored on a sacrifice fly to give Millersville a 5-3 lead. In the fifth, with Millersville holding on to a 5-4 lead, Kirk drilled an opposite-field home run into a stiff wind. 

"Early in the game we made an error and compounded it with mistakes," said Shehan. "You take the lead and then give a run back, but Kirk had a veteran at-bat. He had to hit the ball really hard for it to leave the yard. That was a huge run. It gives our pitchers some breathing room and gave Lill the opportunity to pitch with a runner on base if he had to."

Bren Taylor finished the doubleheader with four RBIs on a pair of two-run singles. 

Millersville improved to 9-1 in PSAC East play and 15-0 at home, with 11 consecutive wins over Bloomsburg. 

The Marauders and Huskies conclude the series with a doubleheader at Bloomsburg on Friday.