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Recaps:  ESU 8, Winston-Salem 6 (10 inn.)  l  Seton Hill 9, ESU 3

Knott named to All-Tournament team

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - East Stroudsburg University's 2013 PSAC baseball championship season came to an end on Saturday at Wake Forest University's Gene Hooks Field, as the Warriors rallied from a 4-0 first-inning deficit but fell to Millersville, 7-5, in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional.

ESU (34-18), which set a school record for wins and won the school's first PSAC championship since 1971, made its second trip to the NCAA Tournament in three years and the third in school history.

Senior P/1B Brian Ernst made history as well, collecting two hits to become the first PSAC player with 200 hits and strikeouts in his career. Ernst finishes his four years at ESU with 201 strikeouts and 201 hits, ranking third in strikeouts and fourth in hits in school history. He had six strikeouts in 6.1 innings in ESU's 8-6 (10 inn.) win over Winston-Salem in its opener on Thursday, the same day he was named a semifinalist for the Josh Willingham Award for DII's MVP.

The Warriors, who went 4-0 last week in Johnstown to win the PSAC championship, fell to Seton Hill, 9-3, on Friday night to end a five-game winning streak before bowing out of the regional on Saturday.

Junior OF Chris Knott, a Daktronics and NCBWA Atlantic Region first team selection, was the Warriors' top hitter in the regional, going 6-for-8 with four walks, one HBP, one sacrifice fly, four RBI and five runs scored. Knott was 4-for-4 with three RBI and had a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run in the 10th inning against Winston-Salem.

Millersville advances to play Seton Hill, the only undefeated team remaining, on Saturday night. Shippensburg and Winston-Salem played an elimination game on Saturday afternoon.

ESU scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning after Millersville scored four in the first, but the Marauders scored a pair of two-out runs in the fifth to go ahead for good. ESU scored one run in the sixth and had the tying run on base or at the plate in each of the last four innings, but Millersville (40-17) held on.

ESU got off the field at 10:30 p.m. after Friday night's loss to Seton Hill, and returned at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday for first pitch at 11 a.m. Millersville scored four runs on four hits in the first, but the Warriors rallied to tie it at 4-4 in the fourth.

Ernst, who singled to center for his 200th career hit in the first inning, was hit by a pitch to start the fourth. Senior OF Eric Boyer (3-for-5) singled and Knott was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out for redshirt freshman 3B Drew Hercik, who ripped a single to right field that ended up plating all three base runners after Kurt Seiders committed a two-base error.

Junior catcher Jimmy Graziano (2-for-4, two doubles, two RBI), who got the start after Eric Forth left Friday night's game due to injury, hit a two-out double to left-center to tie the game at 4-all.

Millersville had chances to break it open in the fourth and fifth, leaving the bases loaded both innings, but scored twice in the fifth inning with two outs before redshirt sophomore Max Mueller came on to get a comebacker from Jeremy Musser to get out of it.

The Warriors cut it to 6-5 in the top of the sixth on another two-out double by Graziano after Knott led off with a walk and advanced on a wild pitch and a fly ball, but Sean Stephenson entered to strand the tying run on third.

The last three innings were more of the same for ESU. Ernst and Boyer hit back-to-back singles to open the seventh but a double play and a strikeout got Millersville out of the inning. Closer Adam Zipko came on to pitch the eighth and the Warriors put the tying run on third after a walk to redshirt sophomore OF Andy Brandstetter and a pinch-hit single by redshirt freshman Matt Walewski before Zipko retired the side.

Millersville scored another two-out run in the eighth to take a 7-5 lead, and ESU got the tying run to the plate in the ninth after a one-out single by Boyer, but Millersville 2B Evan King turned a double play to end it.

ESU had 11 hits with Boyer going 3-for-5, Ernst going 2-for-4 and Graziano 2-for-4 with two doubles. Senior 2B Joe Bennie, Hercik, Walewski and junior SS Eric Linares had one hit each.

Zach Stone, the PSAC East Player of the Year, was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs and Tyler McDonald was 2-for-3 with two RBI, including a solo homer in the fifth, for Millersville. The Marauders had nine hits and drew seven walks.

Tad Barton (8-4) was the winner in his third straight start against ESU after two losses. The Warriors won 4-3 at Millersville in the second game of a doubleheader sweep on May 3, and beat Barton and the Marauders, 6-2, last Thursday in the second game of their run to the PSAC championship.

Junior right-hander Matt Smith fell to 6-5 for ESU, going 4.2 innings. Mueller was the Warriors' second relief pitcher and got the final out of the fifth, and junior Keenan Stare pitched the final 3.0 innings.


GAME NOTES

* ESU was the No. 5 seed in the regional after earning the PSAC's automatic bid by virtue of its first PSAC championship in 42 years. The Warriors finished third in the 2011 Atlantic Regional and also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1985.

* ESU had three selections on this week's All-Region teams in Knott (1st team, Daktronics and NCBWA), Ernst (2nd team, Daktronics and NCBWA) and Jr. RHP Ryan Lubreski (2nd team, Daktronics and NCBWA).

* Ernst finished his career ranked in the top 10 in school history in 16 categories - nine pitching and seven offensive.

* He set the school record with 10.5 strikeouts per 9 innings (201 strikeouts, 172.2 innings). He also ranks 2nd in opponents batting average (.241), 3rd in strikeouts (201) and winning percentage (.696, 16-7), tied for 4th in games started (35), 5th in hits per 9 innings (8.2), tied for 6th in wins (16), 8th in ERA since 1985 (4.07) and tied for 8th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.1).

* Offensively, he is tied for 1st in doubles (44), 4th in hits (201), RBI (114) and walks (88), tied for 4th in extra-base hits (56) and games played (182) and 5th in total bases (278). He also ranks 11th with 115 runs.

* Boyer is in the top 10 in five categories - ranking 2nd in RBI (118), stolen bases (63) and stolen base percentage (87.5), 3rd in walks (90) and tied for 7th in runs (121). He ranks 11th with 171 hits, 13th with 237 total bases and 12th with 161 games played.

* Knott enters his senior year already ranked in ESU's top 10 in seven categories - tied for 3rd in triples (12), 4th in hit by pitch (22), tied for 4th in extra-base hits (56), 6th in home runs (13), tied for 6th in stolen bases (43), tied for 7th in RBI (102) and tied for 9th in walks (67).

* On ESU's single-season list, Knott ranks 7th in extra-base hits (25), tied for 8th in total bases (103) and tied for 9th in RBI (46). He hit .374 with a .472 on-base percentage and .632 slugging percentage, 14 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs, 27 walks, 17 stolen bases and 37 runs scored.

* Bennie is tied for 10th at ESU with 65 hits, tied for 11th with 95 total bases and 8th with 21 stolen bases. He hit .348 with 28 RBI and led the Warriors with 43 runs scored in his only season at ESU after transferring from La Salle, where he was a three-year starter.

* Junior DH Mike Tenaglia is tied for 4th at ESU with 19 doubles. He hit .319 with a .417 on-base percentage, .494 slugging percentage, three home runs, 34 RBI and 29 runs.

* Boyer is tied for 6th in single-season stolen bases (22) and walks (29). He was 22-for-24 on stolen bases and hit .344 with a .434 on-base percentage, 31 RBI and 40 runs.

* Ernst hit .313 with a .409 on-base percentage, 21 walks and just seven strikeouts, 10 RBI and 29 runs.

* Hercik is tied for 3rd on ESU's freshman list with 45 hits.

* On the mound, Ernst set a school record with 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings (88 in 66.2 innings). His 88 strikeouts rank 2nd at ESU. He also tied a record with 12 games started, ranks 3rd in opponents batting average .202) and 7th in hits per 9 innings (6.7), allowing 50 in 66.2 innings.

* Lubreski set a school record with 8 wins and ranks 2nd in winning percentage (.889, 8-1). He is 6th in innings pitched (74.0), 7th in ERA (2.19) and tied for 8th in games started (11).

* Smith is tied for 7th with 6 wins and tied for 8th in games started (11). He had a 4.28 ERA in 61.0 innings.

* As a pitching staff, the Warriors rank 6th at ESU with a 3.75 ERA and the school's 2nd-lowest ERA since 1980.

* ESU pitchers struck out 327 batters, 3rd-most in school history. The Warriors' 391.1 innings pitched were just 3 away from the school record.

* ESU set a school record for fielding percentage (.972) and were ranked 9th in Division II entering the regional. The Warriors committed 4 errors in 3 games in North Carolina.

* Jr. SS Eric Linares had 140 assists this season, 2nd in school history.

* Bennie had a .994 fielding percentage at second base, with 98 assists, 81 putouts and just 1 error.

* Forth didn't commit an error in 279 chances. He played in 49 games and made 41 starts, including 40 at catcher. At the plate, he was 2nd on the team in batting average (.352) and had a .424 on-base percentage, .445 slugging percentage, 29 RBI and 20 runs.

* In the regional, Knott hit .750 (6-for-8) with a .786 on-base percentage. Forth hit 3-for-6 before leaving the Seton Hill game due to injury, and Graziano was 3-for-7 with 3 doubles. Boyer was 6-for-13 with a .533 on-base percentage.