Box Scores
Game 1 - L 4-2
Game 2 - T 6-6 (13 inn.)

MILLERSVILLE – East Stroudsburg University's hopes for a third straight trip to the PSAC Tournament took a hit on Saturday at Millersville, as the Marauders pulled out a 4-2 win in the opener before both teams came away unsatisfied in the nightcap.

ESU rallied from a 4-2 deficit with four runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-4 lead, only to see Millersville (24-20-1, 12-11-1) score two in the bottom half to tie it at 6-all. The score would remain deadlocked for nearly an hour and a half, until darkness and an impending thunderstorm forced the umpires to halt the game at a 6-6 tie in the 13th inning.

Senior Ryan Beck had an outstanding relief performance for the Warriors, getting out of a jam after coming on in the third inning and taking the ball the rest of the way. Beck threw 9.2 innings in all, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits and striking out eight.

Beck was relieved by sophomore Keenan Stare in the bottom of the 13th inning, and after a leadoff double, strikeout and walk, the game was halted at approximately 7:15 p.m.

The loss and tie puts ESU (24-17-1, 8-11-1 PSAC East) in a precarious position going into next weekend's series with Shippensburg. The Warriors are the division's only team to make the PSAC Tournament the last two years but are three games behind in the win column entering next weekend.

Five teams in the tightly-contested PSAC East have at least 10 conference wins as the schedule turns to the final weekend – West Chester (13-7), Shippensburg (10-8), Kutztown (11-9), Bloomsburg (11-9) and Millersville (12-11-1). The top four teams qualify for the postseason. Shippensburg and Mansfield still have to finish their conference series on Sunday.

ESU and Millersville split the first half of this weekend's series on Friday, with ESU winning the opener 10-4 and Millersville winning the second game, 8-5, in a match-up of NCAA Tournament teams last season. Millersville won the regional, held in Lancaster, and the Warriors were third for their highest-ever finish in Division II.

Junior 1B Brian Ernst saw his 17-game hitting streak, the longest at ESU in at least 10 years, end in the first game against three Millersville pitchers – Brian Black and relievers Adam Zipko and Tyler Horst. Ernst hit .492 (29-for-59) from March 26 through April 20.

Senior 2B Ryan Guarino extended his streak to 14 games, going 1-for-3 with an RBI in the opener and 3-for-6 with an RBI and two runs in the nightcap. Senior SS Evan Gallagher (12 games) and freshman 3B Robert Patete (9 games) also had hitting streaks end in game one.

GAME 1

Millersville scored two runs in the 1st and two in the 3rd for all of its offense in the 4-2 win. Dan Johnson had an RBI double and Kurt Seiders (2-for-3) had an RBI single for an early lead in the 1st. Johnson walked and Seiders singled to open the 3rd. Chris Edgar drove in Johnson with a single and Tyler McDonald plated Seiders with a sacrifice fly.

ESU scored its first run in the 2nd, when sophomore 1B Mark Romano singled with one out, moved up on a ground ball and scored on a two-out single by Guarino. Back-to-back singles by sophomore OF Chris Knott and Romano led to another run in the 4th on a groundout by junior C Nico Delerme.

The Warriors had base runners in the 5th, 6th and 7th but were unable to capitalize. Black went 5.1 innings to earn the win for Millersville, with Adam Zipko getting out of the sixth inning and Tyler Horst coming on for the save in the seventh.

Junior Kurt Stettner threw 3.0 innings of scoreless relief, striking out four, walking one and giving up one hit. Stare got all three outs in the sixth inning, coming on after a single and a walk.

GAME 2

Millersville scored three runs on three hits in the 1st, then managed three runs over the next three hours in a game that took 3:28 to complete without an outcome.

ESU battled back with two in the 3rd, with both runs scoring on an error on the center fielder with two outs. The Marauders made it 4-2 in the bottom half before Beck came on in relief and stranded three base runners.

The Warriors scored all four of their runs in the 6th with two outs to take a 6-4 lead. Zipko came on in relief of Tim Mayza (5.2 IP, 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned, 5 strikeouts, 6 walks) after he issued a two-out walk to Knott, but couldn't get the Marauders out of the inning until they had surrendered the lead.

Guarino had an RBI single to score the first run after redshirt senior 3B Jason Kelmer singled and sophomore C Eric Forth walked to load the bases, and redshirt freshman OF Andy Brandstetter had the go-ahead hit, a two-run single, to give the Warriors the lead. Junior OF Zac Menendez followed with an RBI single to make it 6-4 before Jason Long relieved Zipko and got the final out.

In the bottom half of the 6th, Evan King drew a one-out walk and Mike August tripled and scored on an error to suddenly even the score at 6-all.

ESU loaded the bases with nobody out in the 7th, but Long got out of it with an infield fly and two strikeouts, both looking, to get it to the bottom half of the 7th tied at 6-6.

Beck threw a 1-2-3 inning to send the game to extra innings, where both teams had opportunities but neither cashed in over the next six frames. Both teams left runners in scoring position in the 8th, with Millersville advancing the winning run to third before Beck got out of the inning.

Beck sat down the next nine Marauders in order, in the 9th, 10th and 11th. Millersville put the potential winning run on second with two outs in the 12th before a ground ball ended the inning. ESU left runners on base in the 9th, 10th and 11th with one in scoring position.

In the 13th, Ernst had a two-out single for ESU's final base runner of the game. Chesler led off the bottom of the inning with a double off the left-field wall, and Stare struck out Mark Maiorano and walked Evan King – then the game was called.

Both team's bullpens were almost flawless in extra innings. Beck allowed just two hits and a hit batter over 5.0 innings from the 8th through the 12th, and Long (3.1 IP, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks) and Horst (4.0 IP, 2 hits, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk) did the job for Millersville in the late innings.