2021 PSAC Baseball Tournament to start Wednesday
PSAC Baseball Tournament Hub
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. --- The 2021 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament will begin Wednesday, May 12 with the quarterfinals in the Eastern Division and the Western Division. Representing the four seeds in the East are No. 1 Millersville University (23-8 PSAC), No. 2 West Chester University (20-10 PSAC), No. 3 Bloomsburg University (18-14 PSAC) and No. 4 Shepherd University (18-12-1). Representing the four seeds in the West are No. 1 Seton Hill University (23-4 PSAC), No. 2 Mercyhurst University (17-10 PSAC), No. 3 California University of Pennsylvania (16-12 PSAC) and Gannon University (16-12 PSAC).
The first round of the tournament will be Wednesday, May 12 and will be one single-elimination nine-inning contest. The higher seeds will host the lower seeds on each side of the bracket (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3). All four contests will begin at 12 p.m.
The semifinals will be from Sunday, May 16-17 and will be a best of three game series. The series will be all nine-inning games and will occur in the East and West Division.
The finals will be the same game format as the semifinals and will be from Friday, May 21-22.
Millersville and Seton Hill, the top seeds in each division are in the most recent NCBWA Top 25 poll with Millersville receiving votes and Seton Hill tied for seventh.
The Marauders are coming into the tournament hitting .330 as a team and are led by Bren Taylor who leads the roster in several offensive categories including batting average (.438), OPS (1.194), hits (57) and total bases (86). They also have a key hurler in Jeff Taylor who enters the tournament with an 8-1 record, a 2.63 ERA (14 ER in 48.0 IP).
Millersville will host Shepherd in the first round and the Rams have been led offensively and on the hill by a pair of key guys. Caleb Walls put together a 1.265 OPS, a .408 (51-for-125) average and smacked six home runs. Tanner Dixon has started three games and pitched nine games total putting together a team-best 2.29 ERA (5 ER in 19.2 IP) with 26 strikeouts.
Also in the East, West Chester will host defending PSAC Baseball Tournament Champion Bloomsburg. WCU his hitting .351 as a team led by Justin Horn who his batting .400 (36-for-90) and Braeden Fausnaught on the hill who carries a 3.64 ERA (17 ER in 42.0 IP) with 48 strikeouts. For the Huskies, they are batting .301 as a team with Carter Chasanov leading the charge batting .383 (41-for-107) with six home runs and 22 RBIs, while Michael Standen carries a 2-2 record with a 3.91 ERA (11 ER in 25.1 IP).
For Seton Hill, the Griffins are batting .324 as a team and have one of the top hitters in the country in Tommy Pellis. Pellis is hitting .450 (50-for-111) with 14 home runs and 39 RBIs putting together a 1.470 OPS. On the hill, SHU has a team ERA of 2.97 with four pitchers tallying an ERA under 2.00 and five putting together an ERA under 3.00.
SHU is set to host Gannon who is batting .284 as a team and holding opponents to a .274 average. Offensively the Golden Knights are led by Ian Hess who is batting .371 (23-for-62) with three home runs and 11 RBIs, while Deven Judy has been solid on the hill recording a 3.24 ERA (18 ER in 50 IP) with 62 Ks.
The other matchup in the West will be Mercyhurst and California. The Lakers’ Matthew Gibson is pacing the team with a .373 (31-for-83) with three homers and 20 RBIs, while Michael Krauza is the team’s top starter with a 2.15 ERA (11 ER in 46.0 IP) and 57 K’s. The Vulcans come in led on offense by Jacob McCaskey who hit .353 (48-for-136) with 10 home runs and 58 RBIs. On the hill, Nick Riggle is 7-3 with a 3.15 ERA (24 ER in 68.2 IP).
Each quarterfinal series will begin Wednesday at 12 p.m. Spectators will be allowed to watch PSAC tournament games in accordance with each host team’s spectator policy. The games will also be streamed. The links can be found on the PSAC Digital Network or the host institution’s schedule page.
ABOUT THE PSAC
Headquartered in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference comprised of 18 institutions in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The member institutions are Bloomsburg University, California University of Pennsylvania, Clarion University, East Stroudsburg University, Edinboro University, Gannon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown University, Lock Haven University, Mansfield University, Mercyhurst University, Millersville University, The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Seton Hill University, Shepherd University, Shippensburg University, Slippery Rock University and West Chester University.