Box Score Johnstown, Pa. - Last Friday, East Stroudsburg stood in the way of the Marauders winning the PSAC East regular season title before they won the division on the season's final day. Thursday evening at Point Park in Johnstown, the Warriors made Millersville's job tougher again, this time in the team's quest to win the PSAC Tournament, beating the Marauders by a 6-2 score to send them into the loser's bracket.

The Warriors' Ryan Lubreski, who beat Tad Barton last Friday at Cooper Park, repeated the feat on the other side of the state in the PSAC Tournament's second round, spinning eight strong innings. Lubreski allowed just two runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks. Barton was given a 2-1 lead by the offense, but couldn't make it stand up, finishing with a line of 5.2 innings pitched, five hits, four runs (three earned), two walks and four strikeouts.

Millersville struck first as the away team, scoring in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Jeremy Musser, who knocked in two runs earlier in the day in a 5-0 win over Slippery Rock, punched a single into right to plate Evan King for the game's first run. After going 0-for-4 in the opener King, Millersville's leadoff hitter, bounced back nicely with a 2-for-5 effort against ESU.

The Warriors responded in their half of the first, putting a run on the board after a Marauder fielding error allowed leadoff hitter Joe Bennie to reach second on his inning-opening single. Barton surrendered a single to left on the next at-bat by Brian Ernst that scored Bennie, tying the game at one.

In the top of the second, the Marauders retook the lead, 2-1, on Tyler Orris' sacrifice fly that brought home Jeff Heisey from third base. Things looked to be going well for Millersville, as Barton went on cruise control in innings two through four, retiring all nine batters he faced over those three frames.

The pesky Warrior offense tied the game up in the bottom of the fifth at two. Chris Knott's triple to center kick-started the rally. Two batters later, Knott scored the tying run on a sacrifice groundout. East Stroudsburg then took over for good in the following inning, knocking Barton out of the game with two gone in the sixth.

East Stroudsburg loaded the bases on a single, walk and a hit batter, then scored the go-ahead run when Barton uncorked a wild pitch. After another Barton issued another walk to reload the bases, his night was done and the junior was lifted in favor of Sean Stephenson. Stephenson walked the first batter he faced, allowing another run to score and make the score 4-2.

Once the Warriors took the lead, the Marauder offense went into sleep mode, as Lubreski and closer Keenan Stare retired nine of the final 10 batters Millersville brought to the plate. Meanwhile, ESU was busy scoring for the third inning in a row, tacking two more runs on in the seventh inning to make the final score 6-2.

The good news for the Marauders is that they are not yet out of the PSAC Tournament because of the double-elimination style of play. They can get back on track and set up a matchup with divisional foe West Chester tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m., but the team will first have to get by a tough Gannon squad in an elimination game, which is an 11:30 a.m. tilt. The Marauders and Golden Knights have not yet met this season, but on Apr. 26-27, Millersville swept the Golden Rams in the teams' four-game season series.