PSAC championship recap  l  Photos: game action  celebration

Watch: Coach Kochmansky discusses PSAC title, NCAA regional

Host site: Atlantic Regional home page

Previews from Winston-Salem Journal: Wednesday  l  Thursday

Related: Ernst named semifinalist for DII's Josh Willingham Award

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University's second trip to the NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament in three years will begin with a match-up against Atlantic Regional host Winston-Salem (N.C.) on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Wake Forest University, it was announced Monday.

ESU (33-16), the recipient of the PSAC's automatic bid by virtue of its first conference championship since 1971, is making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament in school history. The Warriors finished third in the Atlantic Region in 2011 and made their first NCAA appearance in 1985.

Thursday's schedule starts with No. 1 seed Millersville (38-16) vs. No. 6 Concord (36-18) at 11 a.m., followed by No. 2 Winston-Salem (38-11) vs. No. 5 ESU at 2:30 p.m., and No. 3 Seton Hill (39-15) vs. No. 4 Shippensburg (28-20) at 6 p.m.

Winston-Salem (CIAA) and Concord (WVIAC) received their conference's automatic bids, with the other three schools (Millersville, Seton Hill and Shippensburg) selected with at-large berths.

With a victory over Winston-Salem, the Warriors would face the winner of Seton Hill/Shippensburg on Friday at 6 p.m. A loss would put them in an elimination game against the loser of Millersville/Concord on Friday at 11 a.m.

The regional will be contested Thursday through Sunday, with 10 or 11 games to crown the Atlantic Region's representative in the NCAA Division II College World Series on May 25-June 1 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.

ESU went 4-0 in the PSAC Tournament in Johnstown last week, putting together starting pitching, defense and timely hitting for its first PSAC championship in 42 years.

Senior P/1B Brian Ernst, the Tournament MVP, threw 8.0 innings without allowing an earned run in a 7-1 win over defending national champion West Chester in the PSAC championship game on Saturday, his second start of the tournament. He threw 5.2 innings in an 8-5 win over Gannon on Wednesday night before returning on two days rest, and also hit .500 (8-for-16) in four games.

Junior Ryan Lubreski set a school single-season record for wins, improving to 8-0, with a 6-2 victory over Millersville on Thursday, and junior Matt Smith improved to 6-4 with a 7-4 win over California on Friday to advance the Warriors to the championship game.

Lubreski and Smith both went 8.0 innings in their starts, and junior Keenan Stare allowed just one hit in 5.0 innings over four relief appearances, including saves against Gannon and California.

Defensively, the Warriors have been ranked in the top 10 in DII in fielding percentage almost the entire season and committed just three errors in 159 chances last week for a .981 fielding percentage. ESU is fielding .973 on the season.

At the plate, ESU sports five All-PSAC East selections in the first five spots in the order in senior 2B Joe Bennie (1st team), Ernst (2nd team utility), senior RF Eric Boyer (2nd team), junior 1B/DH Mike Tenaglia (2nd team) and junior CF Chris Knott (1st team).

Bennie, a Stroudsburg native and transfer after three seasons at DI La Salle, leads ESU with a .356 batting average, 62 hits and 41 runs scored, ranks second with 20 stolen bases and five home runs, third with 16 extra-base hits and fourth with 28 RBI out of the leadoff spot. He has a .402 on-base percentage and .523 slugging percentage while committing just one error in 170 chances at second base.

Ernst enters the NCAA Tournament with an opportunity to become the first player in PSAC history with 200 hits and 200 strikeouts in a career. He is currently one of four players in conference history with 150 in each category, ranking fourth at ESU with 195 career strikeouts and tied for fourth with 198 hits.

He ranks in ESU's top 10 in eight offensive and nine pitching categories, including tied for first in doubles (44), fourth in RBI (114) and walks (86), tied for fourth in extra-base hits (56) and fifth in total bases (275) as a hitter while playing in 179 games. On the mound, he has a career record of 16-7 to rank third in career winning percentage (.696) and is currently the Warriors' career leader in strikeouts per 9 innings (10.6 – 195 in 166.1 innings).

Ernst has a 5-2 record in 11 starts with a 2.69 ERA, 82 strikeouts in 60.1 innings and a .204 opponents batting average. Since missing four weeks and returning to the mound on March 30, he is 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA, .188 opponents average, 67 strikeouts, 18 walks and 33 hits allowed in 48.0 innings in the last six weeks. He had a stretch of 10+ strikeouts in four straight games – including a school-record with 15 in a three-hit shutout at Millersville on May 3 – and was named the NCBWA DII Pitcher of the Week. He is hitting .319 with a .410 on-base percentage and 27 runs scored this season.

Boyer was 4-for-4 with a key two-run double and two runs scored in the PSAC championship win over West Chester, raising his average to .335. He leads the Warriors with 21 stolen bases (on 23 attempts), has a .426 on-base percentage, ranks second on the team with 37 runs and third with 30 RBI while hitting No. 3 in the order in all 49 games.

In his career, he is in the top 10 in five categories despite missing more than 30 games due to injury in his first three years. He ranks second in RBI (117), stolen bases (62) and stolen base percentage (87.3), third in walks (88) and tied for eighth in runs scored (118) in 158 career games.

Tenaglia, in his first season at ESU after earning back-to-back NJCAA All-America honors at Northampton CC, hit 6-for-15 with a team-high six RBI in the PSAC Tournament. He is hitting .342 with a .441 on-base percentage and .527 slugging percentage, leads the Warriors with 18 doubles and is second with 21 extra-base hits and 34 RBI as the cleanup hitter over the last two-thirds of the season.

Knott has produced big numbers all year from the No. 5 spot in the order, ranking second in the PSAC in slugging percentage (.619) and tied for sixth with 42 RBI. He is hitting .355 with a .449 on-base percentage, 13 doubles, five triples, six home runs and 32 runs scored while going 16-for-20 on stolen bases.

A three-year starter in center field, Knott hit .313 (5-for-16) with a team-high five RBI in the Atlantic Regional as a freshman in 2011. He was 4-for-13 with five RBI in the PSAC Tournament last week, including a 3-for-5 game with two doubles, a three-run homer and four total RBI in the win over Gannon in the opener.

Junior catcher Eric Forth has taken over the full-time duties after senior Nico Delerme was lost due to injury during the opening series of the PSAC East schedule against Shippensburg. Forth is hitting .344 with a .421 on-base percentage, 27 RBI and 20 runs, hasn't committed an error and has cut down 14 of 37 base stealers (38 percent) while starting 39 games behind the plate.

Redshirt freshman 3B Drew Hercik, a transfer from Delaware, has started all 49 games and has helped solidify ESU's infield defense, along with fellow transfers Bennie and junior SS Eric Linares. He is hitting .259 with a .320 on-base percentage and 18 RBI, including five in the PSAC Tournament.

Linares has been a defensive standout at shortstop, posting a .951 fielding percentage with just nine errors on 183 chances, and has teamed with Bennie to turn 25 double plays in his first season at ESU after transferring from Gloucester County CC (N.J.). At the plate, he's hitting .186 with a .255 on-base percentage, 11 RBI and 12 runs.

The Warriors' only platoon situation is in left field, where freshman John Armbrust (.338/.354/.338, 9 RBI in 28 starts) and redshirt sophomore Andy Brandstetter (.259/.368/.309, 6 RBI, 16 runs in 20 starts) split time depending on the pitching match-up.

ESU's pitching has been strong all year, especially at the top with Ernst (5-2, 2.69 ERA, 82 strikeouts in 60.1 innings), Lubreski (8-0, 1.67 ERA, 48 strikeouts in 70.0 innings) and Smith (6-4, 3.67 ERA, 28 strikeouts in 56.1 innings) combining to start 31 of the Warriors' 49 games.

Lubreski, a transfer from DI UMass, is one of three starting pitchers on the All-PSAC East first team, along with Millersville's Tim Mayza and Chris Murphy. He has pitched at least 6.0 innings in nine starts, never allowing more than three runs, and is two outs away from going 9-0 in that stretch. He had PSAC East wins over Shippensburg (7-0, 4-hit shutout), Mansfield (3-2 complete game), Bloomsburg (5-3), Kutztown (7-1 complete game) and Millersville twice, 4-3 in the regular season and 6-2 in the PSAC Tournament.

Smith, a transfer from Northampton CC, has received a decision in each of his 10 starts, opening 5-1 including a 5-1 win over Mansfield after which he was named PSAC East Pitcher of the Week. He also had a 4-2 win over West Chester before dropping three straight starts, including two one-run losses, before going 8.0 innings in the 7-4 win over California in the third game of the PSAC Tournament.

Stare was the Warriors' fourth starter through most of the season before moving to the bullpen for the PSAC Tournament. He has pitched in 15 games, including seven starts, and has 45 strikeouts and an opponents batting average of .259 in 47.1 innings. In four PSAC Tournament games, he held opponents to a .071 average with one hit over 5.0 innings. He earned the save in a 6-5 (11 inn.) win over Seton Hill in ESU's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory in 2011.

Junior Colin Taylor has seen the most work out of the bullpen, pitching in 18 games with one start. He has a 2.45 ERA and 22 hits allowed in 22.0 innings, 12 strikeouts, just three walks and a 4-1 record with one save.


NOTES

* ESU was 3-2 this season against Millersville, including Thursday's win in the PSAC Tournament, and 1-3 against Shippensburg.

* The Warriors were 2-2 at Winston-Salem in 2012 in their only meeting with the Rams. ESU's only meetings with Seton Hill and Concord came in the 2011 Atlantic Regional, when the Warriors opened with a 6-5 (11 inn.) win over Seton Hill and also had a 17-3 win over Concord.

* Winston-Salem is hitting .342 with eight of nine regulars batting at least .331. They rank in the top 10 in DII in nine offensive categories, including 2nd in runs (9.9 per game) and 4th in on-base percentage (.431).

* Tyler Hickernell is Winston-Salem's top starting pitcher, with a 7-4 record in 14 games, including 12 starts. He has a 2.44 ERA in 62.2 innings pitched.

* Winston-Salem has won three straight CIAA championships in its first three seasons in the conference. The Rams did not sponsor baseball for 38 years until head coach Kevin Ritsche took over prior to the 2011 season.

* In NCAA DII statistics released Tuesday, ESU ranks: 9th in fielding percentage (.973), 32nd in hits allowed per 9 innings (8.6), 35th in strikeouts per  9 innings (7.5) and 37th in ERA (3.53). Offensively, the Warriors are 60th in batting average (.307).

* Ernst ranks 5th in DII in strikeouts per 9 innings (12.23) and Lubreski is 22nd in ERA (1.67).