MIKE GROSS | Sports WriterIt’s not like Millersville’s baseball season was on the line Sunday. Nothing nearly that dramatic.
But East Stroudsburg did sweep a doubleheader from the Marauders Saturday with two more coming Sunday. Another sweep would have left MU five games in the loss column behind the team it will surely have to beat to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division, the first big step on a long road back to the NCAA Division II tournament.
The Marauders responded, sweeping the Warriors 2-1 and 5-0.
MU coach Jon Shehan joked afterward that if his guys had gotten swept again, “We’re going to go recruiting on Monday.’’
Didn’t happen, or come close to happening, because four Millersville pitchers combined to hold a very good team to one run - a home run in the first inning of game one - over two games and 14 innings.
The Marauders (31-7, 17-3 in the East) went into Saturday ranked sixth in the country. But No. 15 East Stroudsburg (now 30-6, 18-2) had been undefeated and a game ahead in conference play.
“I actually lose more sleep on the regular season, because I think the playoffs are so random,’’ Shehan said, but that wasn’t his real issue.
“When you don’t play good baseball, and you’re not locked in on the process, that really irks me,’’ he said.
“We played two bad baseball games (Saturday) and, yeah, that leaves you sleepless as a coach, but I’m really proud of the way we bounced back today.’’
In game one, starting pitcher Alex Mykut was as lights-out good as he’s been, when healthy, for most of his five-year college career. He threw a tight, 77-pitch complete game, with six strikeouts and no walks, and faced the minimum number of hitters from the fourth inning on.
MU’s Hunter Stevens trumped the Warriors’ first-inning homer with a two-run bomb in the third, the Marauders turned a couple of key double plays, and that was about it for game one.
The heavy mound work in game two came from Colby Gromlich, who came on in relief of Zack Tukis to start the third inning. Featuring a killer changeup, he shut out East Stroudsburg for three and two-thirds.
Tukis is an interesting case. He got cut as a freshman at Cumberland Valley High and ended up not pitching at all in high school. Shehan heard about him working out at Fullreps Training Center in Harrisburg.
He’s a project, and it took him 44 pitches to get through two innings Sunday, but his fastball is in the mid-90 mph range and everything he throws moves. He’s the reason a couple of major-league scouts were around Sunday.
“He’s worked his tail off,’’ Shahan said. “This was probably his worst outing in rhe last three or four, but he’s getting better and better and he’s just got an electric arm.’’
The game-two offense included a solo home run by Sam Morris (2-for-3, two RBI and some well-bunched hits along with some aggressive smallball keyed by leadoff man Jeff Sabater.
A junior transfer from Northampton Community College, Sabater went 2-for-3 in game two and stole his 42nd base of the season, which leads the country and is MU’s single-season record with 13 regular-season games left.
The Marauders play four with Shippensburg this weekend, a doubleheader at Shippensburg Friday and another one at Cooper Park Saturday (1 and 3:30 p.m.).
