TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK

• Millersville capitalized on home-field advantage in the PSAC Tournament by going 4-1 and winning its seventh championship all-time and second since 2022. The reward for 42 wins and a conference championship was the Atlantic Region's No. 1 seed. While the No. 1 seed comes with home field advantage throughout the regional and super regional, Millersville's draw could not be much tougher as California, PSAC Tournament runner-up, and Seton Hill, the PSAC West champs, return to Cooper Park after both making deep runs in the conference tournament less than a week ago. Millersville played Cal three times in the PSAC Tournament, going 2-1. Millersville also played Seton Hill in the semifinal of the winners' bracket--a game that went 13 innings before Millersville prevailed, 5-2. 
• Millersville is in the NCAA Tournament for the 12th consecutive season. That is the third-longest active streak in the nation behind only Tampa and Colorado Mesa. Millersville has been the region's No. 1 seed eight times since 2011, and it is the fourth time since 2019 that Millersville has hosted a regional at Cooper Park. Millersville previously won the Atlantic Region in 1998, 2011, 2016 and 2023. Three of the four titles came under the direction of Coach Jon Shehan. Millersville is 39-27 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, winning at least one game in 12 of 13 appearances. In 2023, Millersville hosted the regional and super regional and went 5-0 en route to an NCAA Championship appearance. Millersville also hosted the regional at Cooper Park in 2019 and 2021, going 1-4 in those games. 
• California is making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance, first since 2010 and second under Coach Mike Conte. Cal has never won a regional championship. Seton Hill is in the tournament for a fifth consecutive season and the 14th time in 15 seasons. Marc Marizzaldi has been on the bench for every one of those appearances. He led Seton Hill to the regional title in 2014 and 2021. 
• Millersville is trying to pull off a rare feat that hasn't been accomplished in more than a decade. The last team to win the PSAC Championship and win the NCAA Atlantic Regional in the same season was West Chester in 2012. That was a club that went on to win the NCAA Championship. Since the PSAC Tournament field expanded beyond four teams in 2005, only the 2012 and 2009 West Chester teams have pulled off the postseason double-up. The 1998 Millersville club won a four-team PSAC Tournament and a four-team regional. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville moved up to No. 4 in this week's ABCA Division II Poll, representing the team's highest ranking since 2023. Millersville is one of just 16 teams in the country to win 40 games. It is the third time since 2022 and the eighth time in school history (seventh under Jon Shehan) that the program has reached the 40-win milestone. The team has won a PSAC or regional championship in seven of those eight seasons. The Marauders have set a single-season record for home wins with a 27-3 record and has won nine of the last 10 postseason games at Cooper Park, dating back to 2023. 
• Matthew Williams was named the PSAC Tournament MVP, going 7 for 21 with four RBIs, four runs, two homers and two doubles. He is one home run shy of tying Millersville's single-season record and ranks second in the PSAC with 15. He is also second in the PSAC in RBIs with 56. He is the first Marauder with 40-plus RBIs in each of his first three seasons. 
• Jeff Sabater is the PSAC leader in runs scored (55) and stolen bases (35). He is the first Marauder since Ernest McCoy in 1986 and 1987 to lead the PSAC in stolen bases twice. 
• Bren Taylor is the first player in Millersville history to win four PSAC East titles, two PSAC Championships and an NCAA Atlantic Regional. Current seniors Keegan Soltis, Conor Cook, Sam Morris, Garet Blankenbiller and Evan Rishell have contributed to two PSAC titles and a regional. They can be the first class in Millersville history to win two of both. 
• Taylor is the PSAC's career hits and runs leader with 313 hits and 233 runs in 220 games. He also ranks 10th in PSAC history with 184 RBIs, one behind Joe Wendle of West Chester and two behind Chas McCormick ‘17 for second all-time at Millersville. His 16 triples are tied for 10th in PSAC history as well. Taylor is tied for seventh in games played, four behind Tyler Orris ’16 as Millersville's career leader. Among active Division II players, Taylor is fifth in games played, second in hits, fourth in runs and fourth in triples. 
• Millersville's four starting pitchers have combined to produce a 27-5 record in 2025. Conor Cook leads the team with eight wins. Connor Blantz, Alex Kuehn and Garet Blankenbiller all logged at least 6 2/3 innings in their PSAC Tournament starts. Millersville now ranks fourth in the PSAC in team ERA, first in strikeouts (386) and second in batting average against (.251). In the PSAC Tournament, Millersville's bullpen combined to allow just one run in 20 innings of work. Matt Shamany, who made two appearances, made the longest outing of his career with four innings against Slippery Rock. Rece Ritchey's 3 1/3 innings against California represented his longest career outing, and Evan Rishell's six innings against Slippery Rock were his most as a reliever. Gavin Lill also made two appearances, totaling three innings. Lill has seven saves and Rishell has totaled six. That's the most combined saves by two Millersville pitchers in program history. They rank in a tie for sixth and eighth, respectively. 
   

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

• California and Seton Hill both have significant strengths. California is the PSAC's top hitting team with a .331 batting average, recording double-digit hits in five of the six PSAC Tournament games. Peyton Conte is the two-time PSAC West Athlete of the Year. Santino Marra, now a .396 hitter, had two hits in four of the six tournament games. Nathan Meeks is riding a seven-game hitting streak. Ikon Jones totaled four hits and five runs in three games against Millersville. James Salvatori went 11 for 25 in the PSAC Tournament with a 4 for 4 game in the finale against Millersville. In its three games before the PSAC finale, Cal allowed just two runs in 25 innings to IUP, Seton Hill and Millersville. Jake Kramer is the PSAC's career saves leader. He has 11 in 2025. 
• Seton Hill is the national leader in team ERA at 2.78. The Griffins also rank second in Division II in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.21). They have not allowed more than five runs in any of the last 12 games and have held teams to one or no runs 22 times. 13 times they have allowed no earned runs. Seton Hill and California are tied for second in the nation in shutouts with nine each. Seton Hill is also a constant threat to run when they get runners on base. Seven players have at least 10 steals. Brady McGuire leads that group with 24. 

SERIES HISTORY

• There is a long history of pivotal postseason games between Millersville and Seton Hill. The teams have evenly split 26 games since the first meeting in the 2011 NCAA Atlantic Regional played in Lancaster. Since then, half of the 26 meetings have been NCAA Tournament games and 17 have been played in the postseason. Seton Hill holds an 8-5 edge in NCAA Tournament games and ended Millersville's season in 2013, 2014, 2018, 2021 and 2024. Three of those seasons (2014, 2021, 2024), Seton Hill handed Millersville both of its regional losses. Millersville got some revenge in the 2023 Super Regional, beating Seton Hill -4 and 11-6 to advance to the NCAA Championship. Last season, Seton Hill beat Millersville 5-0 in the first game of the regional hosted at East Stroudsburg, getting 14 strikeouts and eight shutout innings from Aidan Layton. The elimination game was a 3-2 Seton Hill win in which it received a game-tying home run from Owen Mandler in the fifth inning, and Mandler and Noah Sweeney executed a double steal in the seventh for the deciding run. Millersville managed two hits in Jon McCullough's 6 2/3 innings, and Ian Korn pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings for the save. Conor Cook gave Millersville six innings, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks. Millersville does have a historical advantage at home. Including regular season meetings and last weekend's PSAC Tournament, Millersville is 6-0 against Seton Hill at Cooper Park. 
• Millersville and California played for the first time in 1969 (an 18-10 Millersville win) and did not play again until Jon Shehan's first home games as Millersville's coach in 2008. While Cal won those games by 5-4 and 10-1 scores, Millersville has since gone 8-3 against the Vulcans, and all of those games have been played in the PSAC Tournament. Last week in the PSAC Tournament, Millersville topped Cal 7-3 in the second round, breaking a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with Sam Morris' sacrifice fly. Alex Kuehn surrendered 10 hits but just two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. He did not walk or strike out a batter. In game one of Saturday's championship round, California scored all four of its runs in the third inning. Coleman Fletcher and Colin Watson combined to throw a four-hit shutout. Millersville, however, bounced back in the deciding game, scoring five runs in the fourth inning to overcome a 2-0 deficit. Troy Chamberlin and Amani Jones both drove in six runs in the game. Millersville utilized five pitchers in the game. Rece Ritchey earned the win with 3 1/3 innings of relief work.