Baseball | 5/26/2021 11:34:00 AM

CHARLESTON, W. Va. – For the third consecutive season, and for just the fourth time in school history, the Bloomsburg University baseball team is heading to the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies enter the Atlantic Regional as the fourth seed and will take on the University of Charleston, the fifth seed, in the opening game of the bracket. First pitch from the Welch Athletic Complex in Charleston, the host institution for the entire tournament, is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 27.

Live stats and live video links for all tournament games will be available at Charleston's Tournament Central page.

Bloomsburg comes in with a 23-16 overall record and will open against the Golden Eagles, who are 31-11 overall on the season. Charleston, however, has lost five straight games, including back-to-back losses in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) tournament at the hands of Concord and Alderson Broaddus. The two teams last met in the 2018 Atlantic Regional in West Lawn, Pennsylvania, with the Golden Eagles coming away with a 6-4 victory over the Huskies.

Bloomsburg received an automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs by virtue of winning its second consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship on Saturday afternoon with a 6-2 victory in game three against the sixth-ranked Griffins of Seton Hill.
 
The Huskies entered the conference tournament as the third seed from the east and was the only lower seeded team to advance past the quarterfinal round when they traveled to West Chester and earned a 5-2 win over the Golden Rams on Wednesday, May 12. Redshirt sophomore right-hander Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) carried a shutout into the ninth inning and earned the victory on the mound for the Huskies.

The Huskies then knocked off the top seed from the east, Millersville, two games to one in the semifinals on Sunday and Monday, May 16 and 17. Bloomsburg won game one, 7-6 in ten innings, thanks to a go-ahead RBI single from senior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) in the top of the tenth on Sunday afternoon. After the Marauders forced a game three on Monday, the Huskies got a seven-inning, complete-game shutout from freshman Michael Standen (Drexel Hill, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) in game three as Bloomsburg posted a 13-0 victory to advance to the finals. Standen allowed only four singles and struck out a then career-high 10 batters.

In the finals, Bloomsburg faced a daunting task as Seton Hill, ranked sixth in the country, entered the championship series with just four losses on the year and an unblemished 22-0 mark on its home turf. After a 7-5 loss in game one on Friday, the Huskies turned to the freshman Standen, who threw a complete-game gem in game two as Bloomsburg defeated Seton Hill, 9-2, to force Saturday's game three. Standen, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, allowed two runs on five hits with a career-high 11 strikeouts in the victory. The southpaw retired 22 of the last 24 batters he faced.

Marshman then provided tournament clincher with Bloomsburg's second consecutive complete-game performance on the mound. The right-hander allowed two runs on five hits with a career-high nine strikeouts in the win. He retired the last 13 Seton Hill batters in the contest and finished off the series in style with a strikeout of Tyler Peterson for the final out. The Huskies used the long ball on Saturday as they went deep five times – with all six runs scoring on home runs – to give Marshman all of the offense he would need. Bloomsburg ended the three-game series with seven home runs against the Griffins. Seton Hill pitchers had allowed only 20 home runs through its first 38 games of the season.
 
HUSKY BITES

• Bloomsburg won five of its seven postseason games en route to its second consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship. The Huskies have now won five league titles (1955, 1956, 1965, 2019, 2021)
• The Huskies enter the tournament hitting .289 as a team and are averaging nearly 6.5 runs per game on the year. In the playoffs, Bloomsburg has hit only .245 but average nearly seven runs per contest. Twenty of the team's 57 hits – eleven doubles, nine home runs – have gone for extra bases
• Bloomsburg drew 43 walks and had ten batters hit during seven postseason games for a team on-base percentage of .382. On the flip side, Huskies' pitching walked only 17 batters in seven contests – including ten in game one against Seton Hill on Friday. Opponents have been limited to a .216 batting average against the pitching staff with just a .290 on-base percentage
• Bloomsburg has four players who have reached base in each of the team's seven postseason contests to date – seniors Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) and Swiger, and redshirt juniors Jake Reed (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) and Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area). Redshirt junior Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) was held off base at West Chester to start the playoffs but has reached base in each of the last six games, and enters with a team-high six-game hitting streak
• Reed has reached base in 28 consecutive games and has an on-base percentage of .415 on the year hitting in the nine-hole. He leads the team with 30 walks on the season and ranks second with five plate appearances where he was hit by a pitch. Swiger has been on base, at least once, in 16 straight games, while Sinatore is also in double figures with an 11-game on-base streak
• Redshirt sophomore Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) leads the Huskies with nine postseason RBI – eight coming in the last two games against Seton Hill. Both of his home runs against the Griffins – a grand slam in game two and a two-run shot in game three – gave Bloomsburg a lead it would never relinquish
• Sinatore is hitting a team-high .333 (8-of-24) in the playoffs and has the team's only stolen base in seven postseason contests. On the year, Sinatore is tied with OFier for the team lead in home runs with nine and he is second in stolen bases with six (Chasanov leads with ten). Sinatore entered his senior campaign with just one home run in his first two seasons (43 games)
• OFier and Sinatore's nine home runs are tied for sixth most in program history in a single season. Meanwhile, OFier's 42 RBI are three shy of cracking the top ten in a single year
• Redshirt junior Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) hit two home runs in the game three win over Seton Hill – the first multiple home run game of his collegiate career. He has six round-trippers on the season
• Swiger is quietly putting together a tremendous career in a Bloomsburg uniform. His career ranks in program history: tied for second all-time in home runs (27), second all-time in RBI (151), third all-time in runs scored (154), tied for fifth all-time in doubles (47), sixth all-time in hits (196), and ninth all-time in stolen bases (38)
• The pitching staff comes in with an ERA of 6.66 on the season, but it has been sensational in the postseason. In seven playoff games, Bloomsburg pitchers have a team ERA of 3.15 and have limited the opposition to a .216 batting average. The largest improvement has been walks – the Huskies have issued only 17 free passes in 60 postseason innings and that includes ten in game one against Seton Hill
• Standen was named the PSAC Tournament MVP. In two elimination starts against Millersville and Seton Hill, the left-hander tossed two complete game victories to propel the Huskies to the conference title. He threw a shutout in game three against Millersville and then allowed two runs on five hits in game two against Seton Hill. In 16 postseason innings, Standen has allowed two runs on nine hits, no walks, and 21 strikeouts. Standen leads the Huskies overall as he is 4-2 with a 2.83 ERA in seven starts (nine appearances). He has allowed 35 hits and 17 walks in 41.1 innings while striking out 49
• Marshman has also been sensational for the Huskies in the postseason as he is 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA in three starts. He defeated West Chester to advance to the semifinals and then led the Huskies in the game-three win at Seton Hill. In 21.1 innings, he has allowed seven earned runs on 20 hits with one walk and 18 strikeouts.
• Redshirt freshman Nate Baranski (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) has the other Huskies' playoff win as he allowed one run on three hits in 3.1 innings in Bloomsburg's game one victory at Millersville in the semifinals
• Expect to also see senior JJ Spehrley (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area) during the tournament. He picked up his first career save in game one against Millersville and is 0-0 with a 4.35 ERA in the postseason – including a pair of starts. He has struck out 14 batters in 10.1 innings and has limited opponents to a .189 average

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Bloomsburg will take on the University of Charleston, the fifth seed, in the opening game of the Atlantic Regional bracket. First pitch from the Welch Athletic Complex in Charleston, the host institution for the entire tournament, is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 27.

Seton Hill received the top seed in the region and will await the winner of the Bloomsburg-Charleston contest which is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start on Thursday night. Millersville, the second seed, will take on West Virginia State, the third seed, in the other opening round contest in the region on Thursday afternoon. The non-advancing team from the Bloomsburg-Charleston game will play the non-advancing team from the Millersville-West Virginia State game on Friday morning, May 28, at 11:00 a.m.
 
For the complete bracket, click here.