'Ville and California collide in PSAC Tournament again

Wednesday, May 6

Slippery Rock, PA

11:00 AM

Millersville University

California (PA)

Photo by: Kaya Wagner 2026

'Ville and California collide in PSAC Tournament again

5/4/2026 12:56:00 PM | Baseball

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

Countdown to Gameday

Millersville Baseball

Baseball

vs California (PA)

May 6, 2026 at 11:00 AM

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ABOUT THE GAME

After butting heads for 18 innings to decide the PSAC Tournament in and playing four postseason games in 2025, Millersville and California meet in the first round of a new-look PSAC Tournament on Wednesday at Slippery Rock. For the first time, five teams from the PSAC East and PSAC West play in a single-elimination tournament. The winner of the Millersville and California game draw PSAC West champ Seton Hill in the following round.
Millersville has a varied postseason history in games at Slippery Rock. The Marauders went one and done in 2023 and 2024 but swept through the tournament with a 4-0 record and won the 2022 championship at Slippery Rock. Millersville has won three PSAC Tournament titles under Jon Shehan, including two of the last four. Shehan is 28-20 in 14 PSAC Tournament appearances. In addition to championships in 2015, 2022 and 2025, the Marauders finished runner-up in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Before Shehan's arrival at Millersville, the program won the PSAC Tournament in 1998 and won the conference in 1975 and 1974 when a two-team, best-of-three series determined the winner. California's last PSAC Championship came in 2010, and this is the first tournament appearance for first-year head coach Joey Noro, who took over for Mike Conte when he retired at the end of the 2025 season. Conte also led California to a championship in 2004.
Millersville has reached the PSAC Tournament in 14 of the last 15 seasons and in eight consecutive seasons. This is the first time that Millersville has entered as the No. 4 seed since 2012.

BSB: Jimmy Kirk's 13th of the season. Kiss it goodbye! pic.twitter.com/Wz3N37PQoi
— Millersville Marauders (@VilleMarauders) May 1, 2026

SCOUTING THE TEAMS

Millersville suffered three one-run losses to nationally-ranked West Chester last weekend, and it cost them a spot in PSAC East standings. The Marauders boast one of the stronger pitching staffs in the PSAC, ranking third in ERA (4.15), second in strikeouts (358), and second in batting average against (.238). Reliever Joe Morrissey has four wins, five saves and a 1.13 ERA, which is the lowest by a Marauder with at least 30 innings pitched since 1999. The last Marauder to record at least four wins and four saves in the same season was Tyler Yankosky in 2019.
In the starting rotation, Eli Simonton has produced a brilliant rookie campaign, ranking ninth in Division II in strikeout-to-walk ratio and in the top 25 in both WHIP and walks per nine innings. Simonton ranks seventh in the PSAC in ERA (3.31), seventh in opponent batting average (.234), and he has walked just 10 hitters in a team-high 53 1/3 innings. Matt Shamany is third in batting average against (.211) and ninth in ERA (3.40). Rece Ritchey is ninth in batting average against (.237), eighth in ERA (3.33) and fifth in strikeouts (59). Both Shamany and Ritchey were relievers prior to the 2026 season but have made a seamless transition into the starting rotation, logging career highs in every statistical category.
Millersville's .288 team batting average ranks 10th in the PSAC, and it is the first time since 2010 that Millersville has finished the regular season hitting under .300. It is the lowest that Millersville has ranked in hitting since finishing 2017 ranked 10th with a .301 batting average. Millersville has managed to rank fourth in the PSAC in on-base percentage thanks to its ability to draw walks and get hit by pitches. The Marauders have been hit by 127 pitches, ranking third in all of Division II, and they've already set a new school record by more than 50. Xavier Smith has been plunked 22 times and is three away from tying a school record held by Lance Miller since 2008. Millersville is 17-4 when getting hit by at least three pitches and 22-8 when drawing four or more walks.
Matthew Williams closed the regular season on a hot streak, recording a hit in seven of the final eight games with eight runs and six RBIs in the final two series. Already the Millersville single-season and career home run leader, Williams is the only player in Millersville history with eight or more home runs in four seasons and is five RBIs away from becoming the first player with 40 or more RBIs in four seasons. Williams is one away from moving into a tie for ninth in school history in hits with 219. He recently jumped Derek Kline ’11 for eighth in career runs (161) and is one RBI shy of tying Bren Taylor ‘25 and Chas McCormick ’17 for second place. Williams is also one of just 10 players in program history with 100 career walks. He enters the tournament tied for fourth in PSAC history in home runs.
Jimmy Kirk hit a team-leading 13 home runs in the regular season, ranking second in the PSAC and first among all PSAC East hitters. Kirk now ranks second in Millersville history behind Williams with 30 career home runs. Kirk's 52 RBIs ranks second in the PSAC and first among PSAC East hitters. Kirk is just the third Marauder in the last decade to total 50 or more RBIs in the regular season.
Shortstop Brady Ebbert played the first third years of his career at Bloomsburg and now makes his first postseason appearance. It was Millersville's tiebreaker advantage over Bloomsburg that clinched Millersville's playoff berth before the final series. Ebbert has been a welcomed addition with a .293 average, .421 OBP, six homers and 41 RBIs, which ranks second on the team. He joins Thomas Caufield ‘23 and Eric Callahan ’19 as the only Marauder shortstops with six or more home runs in a season. Ebbert had a hit in five of the last six games.
Sammy Laux is the first Millersville catcher since Miles Gallagher in 2010 to lead the team in hitting. Gallagher was an All-PSAC East Second Team selection that season, hitting .310. He later become Millersville's director of athletics. Laux had a hit in eight of the last nine games and batted .392 with a .500 OBP against the PSAC East. Xavier Smith was also outstanding against the PSAC East this season, hitting .328 with a .500 OBP in 25 games.
California went 26-22 overall with a 14-14 league record in its first season under Noro. The Vulcans slumped down the stretch with seven losses in its final nine games--all against postseason qualifying teams. The Vulcans can hit, boasting a .311 team batting average. The Marauders are plenty familiar with Ikon Jones (.378/.465/.508) after he totaled five postseason hits against them last season. Connor Evans was one of the top hitters in the PSAC, ranking eighth in hitting with a .401 average.
The Vulcans have only two pitchers with at least eight starts. Beau Bigam has been the team's workhorse with 64 2/3 innings pitched. He's logged four complete games and a 5.01 ERA. He has the lowest ERA among pitchers with at least six starts. Coleman Fletcher owns a 3.80 ERA in five starts and 12 appearances. He has pitched at least five innings in six consecutive starts.

SERIES HISTORY

Millersville beat California 18-10 in the NAIA district playoffs in 1969, and the teams did not play again until Shehan's first season at the helm in 2008. California swept a doubleheader at Cooper Park in 2008, but since, Shehan's Marauders have won nine of 12 over the Vulcans. Meetings between the two PSAC foes were rare before the 2025 postseason when the teams played four times--including three times in the PSAC Tournament. Millersville won the second-round game 7-3, forcing Cal into the losers' bracket. Cal battled back to the championship round and forced the “if necessary” game behind five shutout innings from Coleman Fletcher and a four shutout innings from Colin Watson. Millersville then rallied from an early 2-0 deficit with a five-run fourth inning and rolled to an 8-3 win for its third PSAC title under Shehan. Cal used six pitchers in the game. Millersville's Morrissey logged 3 2/3 innings and struck out five as the starter. Rece Ritchey and Matt Shamany, both members of Millersville's starting staff in 2026, combined for 4 1/3 innings of relief in the win. Millersville struck out 10 hitters in the win. Amani Jones, who started the 2026 season as Millersville's first base coach and is now playing for the Evansville Otters in the Frontier League, went 3 for 4 with three RBIs. Troy Chamberlin also drove in three runs and reached base three times.
After three battles in the PSAC Tournament, Millersville and Cal met five days later in the NCAA Atlantic Regional. Millersville bounced Cal from the tournament with a thrilling 6-4 win that featured a five-run bottom of the ninth and walk-off home run from Matthew Williams. Cal led 4-1 entering the bottom of the ninth with PSAC all-time saves leader Jake Kramer on the mound. Millersville had not scored since the bottom of the first, but after four hits and a balk that forced home the game-tying run, Williams hit his 16th home run of the season on an 0-2 pitch. Morrissey again pitched for the Marauders, allowing just one hit and no runs over 3 1/3 innings.
Wednesday is the 10th PSAC Tournament meeting between Millersville and California with the Marauders holding a 7-2 lead in the series. The teams have played in an elimination game four times with Millersville winning in 2025, 2012 and 2011. California bounced Millersville in 2019. The teams played in the first round three times (2015, 2016, 2022) with Millersville winning those games by a combined score of 40-4 with two shutouts.