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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team is looking to make a push towards the playoffs in a weekend Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) season-series against Shippensburg University.  Kutztown hosts Shippensburg in a doubleheader on Friday, April 15 at North Campus Field.  The two teams then head to SU's Fairchild Field on Saturday, April 16 to finish the series.  Both days' doubleheaders are set to begin at 1 p.m.

The Golden Bears (17-19, 7-9 PSAC) have split their last three conference series, winning two games apiece against East Stroudsburg, West Chester and Mansfield.  KU is tied for fourth with Bloomsburg University for the final playoff spot in the PSAC East.   

The KU pitching staff is coming into its own after the series against Mansfield that saw its pitchers throw 26.2 innings of three-run ball, allowing 18 hits while striking out 29 batters. 

Anthony DeVito (Philadelphia, Pa./Central (Mercer County C.C.)) has stepped in nicely due to injuries, coming from the bullpen and firing a complete-game in his last start.  DeVito (4-1, 2.08 ERA) allowed just four hits and one earned run to pick up the win.  Over his last two appearances, he has thrown 11.2 innings, allowing a run and six hits with 11 strikeouts.

Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) and Paul Piromalli (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West (Mercer County C.C.)) round out the KU rotation.  Over his career, Swarmer (3-3, 3.89 ERA) is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA, one save and 12 strikeouts over five appearances against Shippensburg.  Swarmer won in last year's start against SU, throwing a complete game with one earned run and six strikeouts.  He has 63 strikeouts on the year, the second-most in the PSAC and just passed the 200-strikeout plateau for his career (202, Ninth in program history). 

Piromalli (2-2) has won his last two starts, throwing 11 innings of one-run baseball.  He allowed eight hits with 11 strikeouts over that span.

As a staff, KU has the second-most strikeouts in the PSAC, with 271 over 259.2 innings.

KU's offense has been led all season by Alec O'Dell (Edgewood, Md./West Chester Bayard Rustin (Harford C.C.)).  O'Dell is hitting .330 on the season with four home runs, 24 RBIs, 25 runs scored and six stolen bases; all team highs.  Mike Milazzo (Titusville, N.J./Notre Dame) and Eric Lane (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) are tied for second on the team with three home runs apiece.  Brady McNab (Hatboro, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Frederick C.C.)) is second on KU with 19 RBIs.   Seven Kutztown batters have driven in double-digit RBIs.  

Shippensburg's offense has been led by the trio of Mike Marcinko, Dalton Hoiles and Grant Hoover.  Marcinko is hitting .378 with a team-high 38 runs and six home runs to go with 14 RBIs.  Hoiles is batting .369 with four home runs and a team-high 31 RBIs.  Hoover sits at .354 with one home run and 28 RBIs.  The SU offense has five players hitting over .300 and five different batters with at least 20 RBIs.

Junior Ryan McMillen (.311, four home runs, 27 RBIs) is coming off a single-game school record six-hit performance against Wilmington University  on Tuesday, April 12.

Shippensburg's pitching staff is led by the duo of Marcus Shippey (3-3, eight starts) and Mark Curtis (3-5, nine starts).

Kutztown holds a 12-8 (.600) advantage over Shippensburg, dating back to 2011.