Jared Kish
Sports Editor
Cole Friese stole the show on the baseball field this weekend for the Marauders as they swept the Kutztown Golden Bears in a four game weekend series. The Marauders have been playing outstanding baseball lately, pushed their winning streak to ten against a struggling Kutztown team who only has three wins on the season.
Millersville starter Eli Nabholz took the mound in game one against the Golden Bears and battled through 5 1/3 innings of work.. Although it was not his best start of the season, he still helped the Marauders push past the Golden Bears and recorded five strikeouts.
Friese started off his tremendous weekend of play smacking three hits and swiping two bags. Friese also had two RBI’s to go along with his three hits. Eric Callahan also whacked three hits, and Friese and Callahan all played a part in the four runs Millersville scored in game one.
Millersville had nine hits in game one with four runs scored beating Kutztown 4-1 in game one of the four game set.
Game two was a little more tightly contested. Millersville scored three runs in the second, which would be their only runs of the game. Back-to-back doubles by Jimmy Losh and Jimmy Cain got the Marauders on the board.
Starter Drew Miller pitched well, as he threw six solid innings only giving up two runs. Aidan Welch came in and shut the door in the seventh, securing a 3-2 victory over the struggling Golden Bears.
Friese had another good game going 2-2 at the plate with an RBI and a stolen base. He also flashed the leather on defense as he cut down a run at the plate in the fourth.
Millersville was up 2-0 in the weekend series heading into Sunday’s action with Kutztown and had the confidence to walk out of the series with the sweep.
After having played great Saturday, Friese once again did not disappoint. He went 3-3, walked twice and scored two of Millersville’s seven runs. He got the scoring started right away as he opened the game with a single, stole second, then scored on a Ben Snyder single.
Cordell Shannon toed the slab in game 3 and won his seventh-consecutive start. Even though Shannon gave up four runs on four hits and two walks, the Millersville offense gave him the run support to record the win.
Tyler Yankosky came in and closed it out for the Marauders in the sixth and seventh, pitching two perfect innings with two strikeouts. Millersville won game three by a score of 7-4, taking the series from Kutztown. Millersville had one more to play with Kutztown and the sweep was right in the grasp of their hands.
The last and final game was started by Millersville’s Daniel Ross, who made his first start of the season and only gave up one run in four innings.
In the fifth, Kutztown pulled the lead within one as Millersville had a 3-2 lead over the Golden Bears. With two runners on base, Kutztown threatened, but could not push any more runs across the plate as reliever Bobby Dorta came in and got the outs needed.
The Millersville offense came alive in the sixth as Losh laid down a bunt and Nick Graham came home on a Kutztown throwing error. In the seventh, Jimmy Cain smashed a two-run bomb in the inning as Callahan added to the scoring with an RBI single.
Dorta stayed in for the sixth and blanked Kutztown as Noah Hartwell did in the seventh, closing out a weekend sweep for the Marauders as they won game two 7-2.
Friese’s play this past weekend earned him the PSAC East Athlete of the Week Award. Friese went 9-13 and had a .750 on base percentage. Friese also ended up 7-7 on steal attempts.
Friese has reached base in all 31 games for the Marauders this season and currently has a 14-game hitting streak.
Millersville now has 10 consecutive wins and is 24-7 on the season. The Marauders have matched up well with their division as they are 11-1 in the PSAC East. Millersville will look to push their winning streak to 12 as they will try and take two in a doubleheader with Mansfield on Friday April 12.
