MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Another postseason game against Millersville and Seton Hill, and another hotly contested thriller. Matthew Williams hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, and the sixth-ranked Millersville Marauders received an exceptional relief performance from Evan Rishell, outstanding defense late, and outlasted Seton Hill for a 5-2 win in 13 innings to advance to Saturday's PSAC Championship round. 

Millersville (41-7) has won eight consecutive postseason home games, three of which have been against Seton Hill. Friday's game, a battle of the PSAC's two division champions, was the 16th postseason meeting since 2011 between the two regional powerhouses. It came down to who made the fewest mistakes. Millersville made two early that helped Seton Hill to its only two runs of the game, but the Marauders played clean baseball down the stretch, catching Seton Hill trying to steal home in the eighth, and then turning a 3-1-2 double-play that saved the game in the bottom of the 12th.

Seton Hill finally flinched in the top of the 13th. A Keegan Soltis lead-off single, throwing error, and a hit-batsman loaded the bases, and Sam Morris'  softly hit ground-ball to shortstop was enough to push home the go-ahead run. But the lead widened to three when another Seton Hill throwing error allowed Bren Taylor and Williams to score. 
 
"We didn't really play mistake-free," said Millersville head coach Jon Shehan. "We probably win 2-0 if we take care of the ball. But it comes down to our players' selflessness, doing what they can to get on base and move runners over. When you are playing a really good team, it's who makes the fewest mistakes. Our players don't stop competing. It doesn't matter what the score is or who the opponent is, they just don't stop competing."

Millersville starter Connor Blantz did not allow an earned run as he worked into the eighth inning for the first time as a Marauder. Then, with zero margin for error, Evan Rishell (2-1) battled for six scoreless innings, throwing 73 pitches, allowing just two hits and one walk. It was his longest outing since he logged six innings as a freshman starter in 2022. But it wasn't just Rishell's pitching that made a difference. In the bottom of the eighth, with Millersville trailing 2-1 and runners on first and third, Seton Hill tried a double steal with Rishell standing with the ball on the mound. Rishell alertly fired home, and catcher Troy Chamberlin placed the tag on the sliding Owen Henne to end the inning. Then, in the 12th, after a one-out double from Brady McGuire, Jakob Haynes hit a dribbler to first baseman Jimmy Kirk. Kirk flipped to the covering Rishell, who stepped on first, whirled toward home and pegged McGuire, who tried to sneak home from second.  
 
"You expect those things from Seton Hill," said Shehan. "They are a really well-coached team. They beat us on a steal of home last year in the regional, so we expect them to run the wheel on the ground ball to first. We expect them to try to steal home. Those things are in the scouting report, and we did a great job executing all night."

After Millersville took its three-run lead in the 12th, Shehan stayed with Rishell, even after he gave up a leadoff single to Joe Fiedor and had to face the top of Seton Hill's lineup again. Rishell responded by retiring the next three hitters. Center fielder Jeff Sabater made a diving grab in left-center for the second out, and Jimmy Kirk made his own diving stop on the next ball put in play, tossing the ball to the covering Rishell for the final out. 

"We had a lot of tough conversations with Evan early in the year," said Shehan. "He really wanted to start. I kept reminding him he's going to be the guy with the ball in a big game that is on the line. I was never going to be able to take him out of the game tonight. That's why he's a bullpen guy, and we will always count on him to get the job done."

Millersville needed some offensive heroics from Williams to extend the game. Williams was responsible for both of Millersville's runs in the first nine innings, driving in Soltis with a first-inning single. Seton Hill stayed with PSAC West Pitcher of the Year Ian Korn in the ninth inning, but Williams turned on Korn's up-and-in, 92-mile-per-hour fastball and planted it beyond the left-field fence for the equalizer. It was Williams' 15th home run of the season, moving him to within one of the Millersville single-season record. Before the home run, Korn had allowed just two hits from the second through the eighth and had faced the minimum over the previous four innings. 
 
"We didn't play very well in the first inning, and it didn't really flip until the home run," said Shehan. "That brought us to life. We talk about never being more than one at-bat away. Matthew lived up to that one tonight."

Williams finished with two hits and two runs. Soltis scored twice with a single and two walks. Amani Jones also delivered a pair of hits. 

Millersville now plays in the PSAC Championship round on Saturday at 2 p.m., against the winner of the California (Pa.)-Seton Hill elimination game. Millersville's opponent will have to defeat the Marauders twice. Millersville has never played for the PSAC Championship at Cooper Park, but it has played in the championship round five times under Shehan, winning the tournament in 2015 and 2022.