Box Scores
Seton Hill - W 8-5  l  Photo Gallery
Millersville - L 13-4  l  Photo Gallery

Watch/Listen: Coach Kochmansky interviewed on John Mendola Show

Recaps:
* Wednesday: Mercyhurst (W 18-11)
* Thursday: Slippery Rock (W 13-4)
* Friday: Seton Hill (L 11-7)

ESU Preview

BUTLER, Pa. - East Stroudsburg University upset nationally-ranked Seton Hill, 8-5, early Saturday to reach the PSAC championship game before falling to Millersville, 13-4, to finish as the 2015 PSAC Baseball Tournament runner-up on Saturday at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler.

ESU (31-19), the No. 4 seed in the PSAC East, used a high-powered offense backed by gutsy pitching performances to reach the fourth PSAC championship game in program history. The Warriors won the 2013 PSAC championship with a 4-0 run in Johnstown, and posted a 3-1 record to reach Saturday's final.

ESU was looking to add to its five PSAC championships in program history, including tournament titles in 1971 and 2013 and ratings system titles in 1957, 1963 and 1969. The Warriors made the tournament final for the fourth time and previously finished as runner-up in 1985.

Senior Andrew Furber went 8.1 innings against Seton Hill's PSAC-best offense and redshirt junior 3B Drew Hercik was 3-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI and two runs in ESU's 8-5 win in game one on Saturday.

Friday night, Seton Hill (No. 7 NCBWA/No. 8 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper) held off ESU for an 11-7 win to force the elimination game for both teams Saturday morning.

Millersville (42-9), which won all four games this weekend, collected 17 hits off five ESU pitchers to pull away from a 5-3 lead after three innings. Millersville won its first PSAC championship since 1998.

ESU, which needed three wins in last weekend's four-game series vs. Bloomsburg to qualify for the tournament, scored 50 runs in five games - the most in the PSAC Tournament since at least 2003.

The Warriors were short-staffed with injuries to two of their top three starting pitchers but stretched their tournament to a fourth day, playing five games.

Redshirt junior Matt Festa threw 7.0 innings and ESU jumped on PSAC West champ Mercyhurst early in an 18-11 win on Wednesday.

Sophomore Tyler Eckman, a first team All-PSAC East reliever, threw a complete game in his second career start in Thursday's 13-4 win vs. Slippery Rock to advance in the winners bracket.

ESU trailed Seton Hill, 8-2, entering the eighth inning on Friday night before scoring five runs and leaving the bases loaded to pull within 8-7, before the Griffins plated three in the ninth.

In Saturday's 11 a.m. game, ESU trailed 3-0 through the second inning before putting up five runs in the third.

Furber (8.1 IP) threw six shutout innings from the third through the eighth, allowing just one earned run in the second, before Seton Hill scored two runs in the ninth to set the final margin. Festa entered to get the final two outs, facing three batters, after throwing more than 120 pitches on Wednesday.

Hercik hit two late-inning home runs to add to the Warriors' lead, a solo shot in the sixth and a two-run homer in the eighth.

In the third, freshman OF Christian Rishel led off with a homer to get ESU on the board, freshman catcher Steven Zimmerman, Jr. singled and redshirt sophomore 3B Jay Young walked. Redshirt sophomore SS Conner Crookham clubbed a two-RBI double, then sophomore OF Ian Allen had a two-out RBI double and Hercik completed the five-run inning with an RBI single.

In the PSAC championship game, Crookham (2-for-4, three RBI) homered in the first and Saverio (2-for-4, 2 runs) had a pair of doubles.

Millersville led 6-3 through five innings before scoring four in the sixth and three in the seventh.

ESU hit .358 for the weekend with 69 hits in five games.

Junior 1B Dylan Tamecki, first team All-PSAC East, was 10-for-20 with a double, homer, four walks, six RBI and nine runs in the middle of the Warriors' lineup.

Redshirt junior OF Matt Walewski was 9-for-19 with three doubles, three walks, seven RBI and four runs.

Crookham hit 10-for-23 with two doubles, three homers, nine RBI and 10 runs in the No. 3 spot.

Allen was 8-for-21 with two doubles, one triple, two homers, nine RBI and six runs. Hercik hit 8-for-23 with a double, two homers, eight RBI and six runs and Rishel, a freshman, was 7-for-22 with three doubles, one homer, four RBI and three runs.

Zimmerman hit 5-for-16 with two RBI and two runs as a freshman. Saverio hit 6-for-21 with three walks, three doubles, a homer, RBI and six runs in the No. 2 spot, and Young was 6-for-22 with two walks, two RBI and four runs in the leadoff spot.

ESU (31-19) posted the third 30-win season in program history. The Warriors set a program record with 34 wins in the 2013 PSAC championship season and won 32 games in 2009 under eighth-year head coach John Kochmansky.

GAME NOTES
* The PSAC East has had the 2 finalists in each of the last 4 years. ESU, Kutztown, Millersville and West Chester have all played twice, winning once:
2012 - West Chester d. Kutztown
2013 - ESU d. West Chester
2014 - Kutztown d. Millersville
2015 - Millersville d. ESU

ESU had one of the top offenses in program history in 2015:
#2 runs - 7.46 per game
#3 batting average - .337
#2 on-base percentage - .423
#3 slugging percentage - .488
#4 home runs - 34

ESU's pitching staff set a school record for strikeouts per 9 innings:
9.03 (359 strikeouts, 358.0 innings)

Tamecki's 2015 season ranks:
t-3rd hits (70)
t-9th extra-base hits (23)
7th total bases (107)
5th RBI (54)

Festa's 2015 season ranks:
t-2nd wins (7)
t-6th strikeouts (66) in 64.2 innings