No. 24 Millersville opens PSAC East play against Warriors

Friday, March 20

Millersville, PA

1:00 PM

Millersville University

East Stroudsburg

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Photo by: Kaya Wagner 2026

No. 24 Millersville opens PSAC East play against Warriors

3/18/2026 9:02:00 AM | Baseball

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

Countdown to Gameday

Millersville Baseball

Baseball

vs East Stroudsburg

Mar 20, 2026 at 1:00 PM

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ABOUT THE GAME

PSAC East play opens Friday at Cooper Park between the two teams voted No. 1 and No. 2 in the division's preseason poll. It is a series between the 2025 PSAC Tournament champs (Millersville) and the 2025 NCAA Atlantic Regional champs (East Stroudsburg). Millersville is the reigning PSAC East champ after East Stroudsburg won the division in 2024. Millersville has won the division in five of the last six seasons and 11 times since 2008.
On Feb. 28, Millersville had just dropped its first home opener since 2017, falling to 4-4 on the season. The Marauders have since won 11 consecutive games--all of them home games. Millersville has posted three shut outs in the last six games and have held opponents to 2.4 runs per game during the winning streak. The run boosted Millersville to 15-4 and back into the national rankings. Millersville was ranked No. 24 this week by both ABCA and D2 Baseball. Impressively, Millersville has made the run against the 27th toughest schedule in Division II and the top-ranked schedule in the PSAC. East Stroudsburg has played just one game--a 5-4 loss to Felician--since March 8, but the Warriors had won seven in a row before that. The Warriors' winning streak also featured three shutouts, and it held opponents to nine total runs.
While Millersville ran away with the PSAC East by a five-game margin in 2025, the division is shaping up to be a battle royal in 2026. Seven of the eight teams enter divisional play with winning records and five teams already have double-digit wins. Millersville's 11-game winning streak is the third-longest active streak in the nation, trailing only Point Loma's 20 and Rogers State's 12. West Chester isn't far behind as its current six-game winning streak is ninth. Shippensburg has won seven of its last eight. Unsurprisingly, the top seven teams in the nation with highest winning percentage for future opponents are all PSAC East teams.

"We were able to coach kids in an environment which was just based on of love of Jesus and love of baseball, and that was pretty special” - @coachshehan

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— Lauren Bradford (@laurenbradfor) March 17, 2026

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

Millersville entered the season needing to replace three weekend starting pitchers and five positional starters, and it got tested in the non-conference schedule. Millersville's opponents own a combined .608 winning percentage, and it played nine games against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in 2025. Wingate, Millersville's opening weekend opponent, is No. 19, 22-5, and recently had a 15-game winning streak snapped. Millersville's freshmen and sophomores have combined for 82 starts, but the team has still managed a double-digit winning streak for the fifth consecutive season. The Marauders are 11-1 at home so far and are 121-25 (.828) at Cooper Park since 2021.
While Millersville has been winning, it hasn't exactly been dominant on offense. Millersville has produced a team batting average above .300 for six consecutive seasons but currently ranks ninth in the PSAC, hitting .290. The Marauders' 138 strike outs are also the second most of any team in the conference. The Marauders have managed to produce a .439 on-base percentage, ranking fifth in the PSAC. They've been hit by a PSAC-leading 53 pitches and average 5.2 walks per game, ranking third behind East Stroudsburg (6.3) and Shepherd (6.2).
Only three Marauders with 10 or more starts are hitting over .300. Matthew Williams ranks third in the PSAC with a .567 on-base percentage and boasts a .407 batting average. Williams had reached base in 31 consecutive games before going 0 for 3 against Pitt-Johnstown on March 15. He's still recorded at east one hit in 10 of the last 13 games. Sammy Laux is starting to heat up with eight hits in his last seven games, boosting his average from .200 on March 4 to .286 entering the weekend. Freshman Christo Hunsicker has also found a home in the starting lineup with five consecutive starts. In the last five games, he's hit 7 for 16 (.438) with six RBIs. Brady Ebbert has been arguably Millersville's best hitter since Feb. 28. In the last 12 games, Ebbert has hit .405 with a .511 OBP, driving in 13 runs and scoring 15.
While the Marauders came into the season with a number of question marks in the pitching staff, an impressive rotation has taken shape. Freshman Eli Simonton has been a revelation, posting a 2-0 record, 0.95 ERA, 0.63 WHIP and .125 batting average against with 25 strikeouts and four walks allowed in 19 innings. Simonton made his first career start on March 14 against Pitt-Johnstown and delivered five shutout innings, striking out nine while allowing just four baserunners. Matt Shamany, with a 3-0 record, 1.74 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, pitched a career-high six innings last weekend against Pitt-Johnstown. Rece Ritchey has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts and 17 innings pitched. He's surrendered just nine hits (.161 batting average against) and struck out 17 in that span. Excluding his start on Opening Day, Alex Kuehn is 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA and .200 batting average against in his last four starts, spanning 22 innings.

SCOUTING EAST STROUDSBURG

The Warriors got hot at the right time in 2025. After losing four in a row to Millersville to close the regular season and losing in the first round of the PSAC Tournament, the Warriors swept their way through the NCAA Atlantic Region with five consecutive wins, not allowing more than three runs in any game. That run put ESU No. 12 in the 2026 ABCA Preseason Poll. The Warriors dropped out of the rankings after an uneven start to the season. On Feb. 27, they were 4-5 having allowed seven or more runs four times. Since, the Warriors have not allowed more than five runs in a game. They've shut out five teams already and surrendered just two runs in four games against D'Youville on March 7-8. Starter Ethan Woods was a preseason All-Atlantic Region selection after earning All-PSAC East First team honors last season. Woods posted a 2.19 ERA in 10 starts last season and currently owns a 3.66 ERA. He pitched six shutout innings against D'Youville in his last start. Ryan Dewees, an All-PSAC East Second Team pick in 2025, has been the standout for the Warriors to start his senior season. He owns a 2-0 record and 1.44 ERA, striking out 29 while walking just five in 25 innings. Evan Hughes is a newcomer for Warriors but has impressed early. He's allowed just one earned run over his last four appearances and 18 innings. He's struck out 19 and walked just two in that stretch.
Parker Frey, an All-Atlantic Region Defensive Team selection 2025, is the Warriors' leader at the plate, pacing the team in average (.413), doubles (7), RBIs (14), slugging percentage (.674) and OBP (.533). Walker Zampella was an All-PSAC East Second Team selection in 2025, and he is hitting a career-high .326 with a .500 OBP so far this season. Shanley Wall, a consensus All-Atlantic Region outfielder in 2024 and an All-PSAC East selection in 2025, has not played since Feb. 27.
As a team, East Stroudsburg ranks third in the PSAC in on-base percentage (.447) with a conference-best 107 walks drawn. It is aggressive base-running team as well with 41 steals in 47 attempts. Millersville has been brilliant at keeping the run game in check, allowing just seven steals while throwing out eight runners.

SERIES HISTORY

In 2025, Millersville earned its first series sweep of the Warriors since 2011. East Stroudsburg won the regular season series 2-1 in 2023 and the teams split a four-game series in 2024. Last season, Millersville scored 11 or more runs in three of the four games. The two road games were played at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown rather than at East Stroudsburg. East Stroudsburg has won four against Millersville at home with Millersville's last win at ESU coming in 2021. The Marauders have won five in a row at home against the Warriors.
Millersville has had some success against ESU's starters in the past. Last season, the Marauders scored four in 2 1/3 against Woods while Kuehn pitched 5 2/3 innings in relief for the win. Millersville scored five runs in 1 1/3 innings against Dewees in the same series. Donis Rodriguez posted a .778 OBP in three games against the Warriors while Matthew Williams totaled five hits, four RBIs, six runs and a .563 OBP in the series. In 2024, Dewees limited Millersville to two runs in five innings.