Baseball | 5/14/2019 8:36:00 PM

 
THE STORY
TICKETS
AGAINST THE LAKERS
• Bloomsburg took care of Mercyhurst on the opening day of the PSAC Championship by a 12-0 final on Wednesday, May 8, to improve to 4-6 lifetime against the Lakers. It was the Huskies' first win over Mercyhurst in the all-time series since 1996. The two teams also met last season in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional with Mercyhurst posting a 5-0 win over Bloomsburg.

LAST WEEK
• For the first time since 1965, the Huskies won the conference title by going a perfect 3-0 in the tournament and outscoring #21 Mercyhurst, #7 Millersville, and perennial-power West Chester by a combined 33-4 score over the course of the three games. Heavy rains hit the area on Saturday evening and carried over into Sunday forcing the cancellation of the remainder of the tournament leaving Bloomsburg as the conference champions by virtue of being the only unbeaten team left.

• Bloomsburg opened the tournament with a 12-0 seven-inning victory over Mercyhurst University on Wednesday afternoon. Senior Ashton Raines (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout and needed just 74 pitches to mow down the Lakers. He did not walk a batter and struck out four to lift the Huskies to their first victory over Mercyhurst since 1996. Redshirt freshman Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) paced the offense by going 3-for-3 with a career-high five runs batted in. LINK TO RECAP

• Then, after a rainout on Thursday, the Huskies squared off against seventh-ranked Millersville on Friday and knocked off the Marauders by a 7-1 final as junior Chad Cooperman (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) tossed seven innings and allowed only a run on six hits. He walked one, struck out eight, and got all of the offense he would need when sophomore Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) belted a first-inning grand slam to erase a 1-0 deficit. Bloomsburg defeated Millersville starter Cordell Shannon for the first time as the senior lefthander was 5-0 with a 1.36 ERA against the Huskies prior to Friday. LINK TO RECAP

• Finally, in what proved to be Bloomsburg's final game of the tournament on Saturday morning, the Huskies avenged a four-game sweep at the hands of West Chester on the final weekend of the regular season by earning a 14-3 seven-inning victory over the Golden Rams. Junior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) drove in a career-high seven runs in the win while junior JJ Spehrley (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area) pitched six solid innings, tying a career-high with eight strikeouts. Newbert walked the Huskies off in the bottom of the seventh with a mammoth three-run home run. LINK TO RECAP

• Newbert was named the PSAC Tournament's Most Valuable Player as he batted .364 with two home runs and a tournament-high ten runs driven in. He led the Huskies with a 1.000 slugging percentage over the course of the three games.

THE HUSKIES AT A GLANCE
• The Huskies are tied for sixth in the PSAC with a .290 team batting average on the season. Bloomsburg is tied for second with a .404 on-base percentage, helping the Huskies to an average of 7.2 runs per game on offense. Redshirt freshman Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) has taken over the team-lead in hitting at .355 on the season. Chasanov also leads the team with 18 stolen bases. Senior Ryan Shiffer (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) is at .341 on the year with five home runs, 28 RBI, and a team-leading 15 doubles while junior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) is batting .319 with career-highs in home runs (8) and RBI (33). Junior Nate Krizan (Montoursville, Pa./Home School) is at .302 on the year with a pair of home runs and 29 RBI. Sophomore Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) has raised his average to .277 and leads the team with 12 home runs while ranking second with 44 RBI. His 12 home runs are third-most in school history. Junior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) is tops on the team with 45 runs batted in, aided by his career-high seven RBI in the win over West Chester. He was the first Bloomsburg player to drive in at least seven in a game since Damin Muth on February 25, 2017.

• Bloomsburg enters the tournament with the best team ERA in the PSAC at 3.81. The Huskies are limiting opponents to a .232 batting average - second only to Mercyhurst's .224. Bloomsburg pitchers have struck out a school-record 383 batters this season, breaking the previous record of 332 established during the 1999 campaign. Senior Ashton Raines (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) leads the starters with a 7-2 record and a 2.07 ERA - second among starters in the PSAC. Raines is the program's all-time leader in career strikeouts with 193 and has tied school records for most shutouts in a season (3) and career shutouts (4). Junior Chad Cooperman (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) is 7-3 with a 2.73 ERA - seventh among starters in the PSAC. He leads the team with 75 strikeouts in 62.2 innings and is holding opponents to a .197 average. His 75 strikeouts are the fourth-highest total in a single season in school history. Junior JJ Spehrley (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area) is 6-2 and has a 3.46 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 54.2 innings. Out of the bullpen, seniors Trey Hinkle (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) and Zach Newmyer (New Cumberland, Pa./Red Land) have been sensational. Hinkle is 4-1 with two saves and has not allowed an earned run in 20.1 innings while striking out 20. Newmyer, meanwhile, is 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA and a PSAC-leading seven saves. He has 41 strikeouts in 25 innings of work.

THE TOURNAMENT
• The tournament will have a new feel in 2019. It will begin with the eight regions split into two, 3- or 4-team tournaments. Much like the Division I baseball tournament, the DII baseball championship will have an added Super Regional round, where the winners of each regional tournament will meet in a best-of-three series to decide who moves on to Cary to play for the national championship. From there, a double-elimination tournament will begin to crown the 2019 champion.

• Each bracket in the Atlantic Region has three teams with top-seeded Millersville hosting one and second-seeded West Chester hosting the other. Bloomsburg and Mercyhurst will play at Millersville with the loser having to play the Marauders on Friday, May 17, at 11:00 a.m. The winner would play at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. In the other regional bracket, Gannon received the third seed and will play sixth-seeded Charleston on Thursday with the loser having to play West Chester the following morning.

• Regional play is scheduled from May 16-18 with the super regional occurring May 24 and 25. The finals will be held from June 1-8 in Cary, North Carolina.