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KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team's road to the playoffs isn't as confusing as in years past, but to get a playoff berth the Golden Bears need to sweep their last remaining Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) season-series this weekend along with getting some outside help.

Easy enough right?

The problem; KU has to do it against the No. 1 team in the country in Millersville University.

The Golden Bears (19-27, 9-15 PSAC) host Millersville (39-4, 21-3 PSAC) on Friday, April 29 at North Campus Field at 1 p.m. The two teams then travel the short trip down the US-222 to MU's Cooper Field to finish the series on Saturday, April 30 with a first pitch of 1 p.m. 

Even with a sweep, KU will still need Bloomsburg and Shippensburg to split its season-series this weekend, as Kutztown needs to finish ahead of both teams in the standings due to losing the head-to-head tiebreakers to both squads. 

Kutztown is going to need all arms on deck to try to slow down one of the best hitting teams in the nation.  MU enters the game hitting .353 as a team, the fifth-best mark in Division II and the Marauders get on-base at a rate of .436 (seventh in D-II).
 
KU will turn to Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin), Paul Piromalli (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West (Mercer County C.C.)), and Mike Kammerer (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) on the mound to counter MU's potent attack.  Swarmer (3-4, 3.86 ERA) has the second-most strikeouts in the PSAC, fanning 81 over 51.1 innings.  Opponents hit a team-low .240 against the senior.  Piromalli has fully shaken whatever rust he had on his arm from the beginning of the year, and has fired 25 innings of five-run baseball, including back-to-back conference complete-games.  The senior-lefty has picked up victories in three of his last four starts, with his only loss coming in a complete-game against Shippensburg on April 15 in which he allowed three earned runs.  Over his last 25 innings, Piromalli has allowed 22 hits while recording 24 strikeouts.    Kammerer (2-3) is making his second start after returning from injury, and went 4.1 innings with three hits and two earned runs in his return against SU on April 16.

Millersville's pitching has almost been as good as its bats, holding the best ERA (3.10) and WHIP (1.13) in the PSAC.  MU's team-ERA is ninth-best in Division II, and its WHIP is the fourth-best in the nation.  Opponents have managed to hit just .235 against MU. 

Brandon Miller leads the Millersville staff, going 8-1 with a 1.73 ERA over 10 starts.  Miller is tied for third in the PSAC with 76 strikeouts and holds opponents to a .164 batting average (second in PSAC).  MU has four other starters with at least eight starts that still hold undefeated records. 

Kutztown's offense will turn to Alec O'Dell (Edgewood, Md./West Chester Bayard Rustin (Harford C.C.)) to lead it.  The junior is hitting a team-high .323 with four home runs, 30 RBIs, 29 runs scored, nine steals and an on-base percentage of .433.  Freshman Eric Lane (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) is batting .284 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and 14 runs scored.  Senior Brady McNab (Hatboro, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Frederick C.C.)) sits right behind, hitting .283 with two home runs and 25 RBIs.  The Golden Bears have nine different players that have driven in double-digit RBIs. 

The Golden Bears will look to take it one game at a time, as they try to make one final push towards the postseason.