Box Score



Millersville 3, Kutztown 2 (HTML Box Score)
 
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WEST LAWN, Pa. – Trailing for the majority of the game, the Kutztown University baseball team rallied to tie the score at 2-2 in the top of the seventh, but Millersville University was able to walk-off with the 3-2 victory in the bottom of the ninth in the First Round of the NCAA Atlantic Regionals from Owl's Field on a windy Thursday afternoon.
 
Down 2-0 in the top of the seventh, Kutztown (30-20) subbed in left-handed batters Travis Kreitz (Gilbertsville, PA/Boyertown) and Brady McNab (Hatboro, PA/Archbishop Wood (Frederick CC)) to pinch-hit against Millersville's (37-14) right-handed Tad Barton. Krietz got the ball rolling with a single to right center and McNab reached on a fielder's choice. Senior John Dockins (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson (Frederick CC)) took a pitch off the shoulder for the second time today to advance to first and put pinch-runner Clay Sebesky (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East) in scoring position on second. Junior Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) threw down a squeeze bunt, but beat the throw to first to load the bases for KU with one out. Senior Kyle Stoudt (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) took a 1-0 count and fired a two-RBI single up the middle to plate Sebesky and Dockins to knot up the score.
 
Sophomore Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) stepped to the mound for the Golden Bears in the bottom of the eighth, needing only 10 pitches to retire four Marauders. After a 1-2-3 inning for the Kutztown offense in the ninth, Millersville plated the game-winning run with its first two batters. Dan Stoltzfus led off with a double down the left-field line and continued onto third after a passed ball. Kurt Seiders took the 2-2 pitch with a bouncing grounder to the second basemen. Unable to field it quickly enough, Stoltzfus slid through home-plate for the game-winning run.
 
The afternoon flirted with quick rain showers and possibilities of thunderstorms. The resulting wind affected the players all day, and starting KU pitcher Brandon Shimo (Jermyn, PA/Lakeland (Lackawanna)) struggled to adjust early on and keep his pitches away from the MU batters. In the bottom of the first, a leadoff hit-by-pitch turned into a two-out run for 'Ville to kick off the scoring and take an early lead.
 
Millersville tallied its second run of the day in the fourth inning off of a RBI double by Mark Stuckey that scored David Summerfield.
 
Kutztown Head Coach Chris Blum worked the Golden Bears out of a potentially-dangerous jam in the fifth. With a man on second and third and one out, Shimo intentionally walked redshirt junior Kurt Seiders to bring up Summerfield, a left-handed freshman. Left-handed senior pitcher Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) was called from the pen and forced Summerfield to line-drive into an inning-ending double play on the first pitch.
 
Each squad accounted for two fielding errors on the day and the Marauders held the hit advantage, 10-7.
 
Martinez was the only Golden Bear to record a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with his 35th stolen base this season, a school record. Stoudt, Kreitz, Derian Sarlat (Reading, PA/Exeter Township), Ricky Gorrell (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford), and Thomas Romano (Phoenixville, PA/Phoenixville) tallied a hit each. Stoltzfus, Tyler Orris, Zach Stone, and Dan Johnson all had two-hit games for the Marauders.
 
Shimo struck out two in the opening 4.1 innings and Swarmer recorded one in the eighth for the Maroon and Gold. Barton turned in a five-hit, two-run performance in the start for MU on the mound. Adam Zipko is credited the win after closing out the final 2.1 innings with four strikeouts.
 
Kutztown will square off against the loser of Game 1, Winston-Salem State, in the opening game of Day 2 tomorrow, Friday, May 16 at 12 p.m. Forecasted heavy rain throughout the early morning and afternoon is expected to push the schedule back.