JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Sophomore Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) belted a first-inning grand slam home run, and junior righthander Chad Cooperman (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) was sensational on the mound as the Bloomsburg University baseball team moved to 2-0 at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament with a 7-1 victory over seventh-ranked Millersville University on Friday afternoon at Point Stadium. The Huskies improved to 33-14 overall while the Marauders dropped to 38-13 on the season.

Bloomsburg, more importantly, advances to Championship Saturday unbeaten in the tournament and will play against West Chester University on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. The Golden Rams have also won each of their first two games after earning a 6-5 victory over Cal U on Wednesday and an 11-1 win over Gannon on Friday morning. Millersville, meanwhile, drops to the loser's bracket and will return to Point Stadium later Friday evening for an elimination game against Cal U.

The pitching matchup, on paper, was fantastic as Cooperman got the ball for the Huskies while senior lefthander Cordell Shannon earned the start for Millersville. Cooperman earned First Team All-PSAC East honors this season after being named to the Second Team a season ago. Shannon, meanwhile, has been named to the All-PSAC East Second Team in back-to-back years and was Freshman of the Year in 2016.

Cooperman was touched up for a run in the top of the first inning as Cole Friese drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and then scored on a one-out single back up the middle by Jimmy Cain to give the Marauders took a 1-0 advantage. Cooperman was able to retire the final two batters to prevent further damage.

The Huskies battled back in a big way in the bottom of the first inning against Shannon. Junior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) led off the frame with a single and then advanced to second on a single to center from junior Nate Krizan (Montoursville, Pa./Home School). Senior Ryan Shiffer (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) was called upon to attempt to sacrifice both runners over, but it worked even better as the senior drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases with nobody out. Newbert then crushed a 1-1 pitch from Shannon over the high screen in left field for a grand slam home run and a 4-1 Bloomsburg advantage. It was Newbert's seventh home run of the year which gives him a new career-high after belting six as a freshman a season ago. Shannon pitched around a one-out walk to sophomore Jared Burcin (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) to prevent further scoring, but the damage had already been done.

The four-run inning for the Huskies was especially huge given the fact that Shannon entered the matchup against Bloomsburg with a perfect 5-0 record against the Huskies in his career and had allowed only five earned runs in 33 innings (1.36 ERA).

Both pitchers settled down after the first-inning fireworks as Cooperman allowed only five hits over his next six innings of work while Shannon gave up five knocks during the same time frame. Millersville's best chance to get back in the game against Cooperman came in the top of the fifth inning when Kaylor Kulina reached on a two-out single and Cain followed with a double down the left field line to put runners at second and third with two outs. Cooperman, however, retired Ben Snyder on a lazy fly ball to center to end the threat.

Cooperman was lifted after seven innings of work in which he allowed a run on six hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches - 63 of which were strikes. His eight strikeouts give him 75 for the season - fourth-most in a single season in program history.

Senior Trey Hinkle (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) came on in the eighth inning and allowed a leadoff walk to Kulina before getting a fielder's choice off the bat of Cain and an inning-ending double play from Snyder. Hinkle needed only 11 pitches to get through the eighth.

The Huskies used that momentum to plate three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against Millersville reliever John Turner. Newbert started the rally with a one-out walk and then was replaced by junior Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) on the basepaths. Then, after Turner retired redshirt freshman Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) for the second out of the inning, Burcin kept the inning alive with a single to right which was followed by back-to-back walks to sophomore Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) and junior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) to plate the first run of the inning. Sophomore Jake Reed (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) followed with a grounder that got under the glove of the Millersville shortstop which allowed both OFier and Burcin to score, building the advantage to 7-1.

Senior Zach Newmyer (New Cumberland, Pa./Red Land) was summoned to pitch the ninth inning for the Huskies and struck out the side allowing only Eric Callahan to reach base on a one-out error. The senior has now struck out 41 batters in 25 innings this season.

Cooperman got the victory to improve to 7-3 overall on the season while Shannon dropped to 9-3 after suffering his first career loss to the Huskies. Bloomsburg finished with nine hits on the afternoon - two from Holmes. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit with only OFier going hitless, but the sophomore scored a run in the three-run eighth inning. Millersville had six hits - three from Cain - and struck out 11 times against three Huskies' pitchers.

Bloomsburg will be looking to avenge a four-game series sweep at the hands of West Chester during the final weekend of the regular season when the two teams meet on Saturday morning, May 11, at 9:30 a.m.