MARAUDERS BASEBALL Brings Home! it

The machine that is Millersville University baseball just keeps chugging along. With alums TIM MAYZA ’18 and CHAS MCCORMICK ’17 making headlines in the majors, the current Marauders are carrying on the tradition of excellence in 2023, winning the PSAC East Championship— Millersville’s 10th in the last 15 seasons.

Despite Millersville’s long history of success, the 2023 Marauders did something no other team has: celebrate an NCAA Atlantic Regional on its home field at Cooper Park. Millersville won 40 regular-season games against the 19th most challenging schedule in the NCAA, earning the No. 1 seed. Over three days, Millersville defeated Mountain East Conference champion Charleston and archrival West Chester twice to advance to the NCAA Super Regional, which was also hosted at Cooper Park. There, the Marauders swept Seton Hill to advance to the NCAA Division II Championship for the fourth time in program history.

Millersville clinched its PSAC East title by running away from the field. In a division with seven teams boasting winning records, the Marauders went 21–3 and finished five games up in the standings. The clinching moment came a week before the end of the regular season with a sweep at West Chester—a feat not accomplished since 2013.

“Each student-athlete that comes through our program is here for a short time, and many of them come here to win,” said Shehan. “It’s a big accomplishment to win the regular season in such a tough division in a tough league. I’m really proud of the manner in which it was done— against a good team in a tough place to play.”

Outstanding individual accomplishments that sparked the team’s success include head coach JON SHEHAN winning his sixth PSAC East Coach of the Year award and earning the NCBWA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year award for the second time. Outfielder BREN TAYLOR set himself apart in the Millersville record books, becoming the first Marauder to win the PSAC East Athlete of the Year award two times. He was also named the NCBWA and D2CCA Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year. His teammate and fellow all-region honoree, THOMAS CAUFIELD, won those awards in 2022.

Taylor also became the first Marauder of the modern era to hit over .400 twice, and his .405 career batting average is the best by any Marauder with more than two seasons played.

“It’s special to watch him play,” said Shehan of Taylor. “He’s one step ahead of the other team. He’ll hit for power when he needs to drive the ball, and then he turns around and is the toughest two-strike out in the league.”

Senior second baseman JIMMY LOSH entered the postseason ranked among the all-time Millersville leaders in runs, hits and doubles, and was tied with Taylor for the school record in triples. Despite playing just two seasons in Black & Gold, Caufield moved up to No. 2 in career home runs and became the first player in program history to record 20 doubles in back-to-back seasons. 

At press time Marauder Baseball was playing in the NCAA II Championships in Cary, NC.