[Kutztown Press Release] KUTZTOWN BASEBALL TO BATTLE FOR PSAC TITLE

Tue Apr 29 09:12:51 EDT 2008

April 28, 2008
KUTZTOWN BASEBALL TO BATTLE FOR PSAC TITLE
KUTZTOWN, PA - The Kutztown University baseball team is headed to Lancaster, Pa., for the 2008 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Playoffs this Wednesday-through-Saturday, April 30-May 3 at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
            The No. 2 seed from the PSAC East, the Golden Bears will take on Indiana (Pa.), the No. 2 seed from the PSAC West, on Thursday at 9 a.m.  it will be the third game of the tournament.  Games in the six-team, double-elimination tournament begin Wednesday at 4 p.m., with East No. 1 Millersville taking on West No. 3 Slippery Rock.  West No. 1 Shippensburg takes on East No. 3 West Chester on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
At stake in the tournament is the PSAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Championship tournament.
If KU defeats IUP, the Golden Bears would face the winner of the Millersville/Slippery Rock game at 6 p.m. Thursday.  If Kutztown would lose, it would play the loser of the Shippensburg/West Chester game at 3 p.m. Thursday.
The rest of the tournament schedule is determined by how many teams remain after Thursday's games.  Contests resume at noon on Friday and continue through Saturday's championship round.  Tickets are $7 for adults for all-day passes, while current students at PSAC member institutions will be admitted free with a valid ID.
             Kutztown has qualified for the PSAC Playoffs in each of the past five seasons, and in nine of the last 12 years.  In the last 10 years, the Golden Bears have won the PSAC title in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2006, while placing second in 2001 and 2004.  KU's first-ever PSAC title was in 1966.
            The Golden Bears are 25-23 overall and finished the PSAC East with a record of 11-9.  KU won seven of its last 10 division contests to enter the playoffs on a roll.  KU is under the direction of sixth-year head coach Chris Blum, who has a career record of 219-93.
            The Golden Bears have been led by solid pitching as the young lineup has come along late in the season.  KU has a 3.78 team earned-run average and a .287 team batting average.
            Starting pitchers Darin Gorski (so. Mount Joy/Donegal), Philip Rummel (sr. Exeter/West-Mont Christian), Derick Reis (sr. Jim Thorpe/Jim Thorpe) and Garrison Rausch (sr. Allentown/Parkland) comprise Kutztown's rotation.
            Gorski is 8-2 with a 2.19 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 65.2 innings pitched.  Rummel is 4-5 with a 3.42 ERA and 49 Ks in 55.1 innings pitched.  One of those two are expected to start vs. IUP Thursday.  Reis is 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 43.2 innings.  Rausch is 1-3 with a  6.57 ERA and 30 Ks in 38.1 innings.
            Other pitchers who saw action in PSAC East games this season include Justin Jachowicz (sr. Summit Hill/Panther Valley) (0-3, save, 3.44 ERA), Trent Mertz (fr. Kutztown/Kutztown) (1-0, save, 2.08 ERA), Mike Bucklin (so. Shillington/Governor Mifflin) (2-0, 3.60 ERA), Jason Herr (fr. Harrisburg/C.D. East) (0-2, 3.60 ERA) and Jordan Smith (fr. New Milford/Blue Ridge) (1-1, 5.02 ERA).
            The Golden Bears are led at the plate by OF Chad Lightcap (jr. Boyertown/Boyertown), who is hitting .383 with 39 runs scored, 34 RBI and five home runs.  Rausch, who plays center field when not pitching, is hitting .188 with eight RBI.  Corey Buletza (fr. St. Clair/Pottsville) (.301, HR, 21 RBI) and Jeff Kistle (fr. Sandyston, N.J./Kittatinny) (.230, 10 RBI) split time in the outfield as well.
            The infield is led by the third-baseman platoon of James Quigley (fr. Bensalem/Bensalem) and Mike Dugan (r-fr. Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City).  Quigley is hitting .329 with 12 RBIs, while Dugan is hitting .291 with a home run and 17 RBIs.  Second baseman Mike Kacelowicz (so. Orwigsburg/Blue Mountain) is hitting .302 with a home run and 17 RBIs.  Jared Frey (so. Mohrsville/Schuylkill Valley) is hitting .282 with 17 RBIs at first base, while Mark Renda (r-fr. Lansdale/North Penn) (.250, 16 RBI) and Brett Wigder (fr. Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) (.289, 18 RBI) share time at short stop.
            Matt Kulbacki (so. Hershey/Hershey) and Scott Kacelowicz (so. Orwigsburg/Blue Mountain) are the catchers.  Kulbacki is hitting .299 with seven homers and 29 RBI.  Kacelowicz hits .298 with nine RBI.
Kutztown's first-round opponent is Indiana (PA) (West No. 2, 36-17, 13-7 PSAC West).  It will be the teams' first meeting since 1997.  The Crimson Hawks are led by  head coach Jeff Ditch.  IUP is making its first appearance in the PSAC playoffs since 1998, clinching a berth in the tournament with a 5-1 win over California on Saturday.  That win also gave the Crimson Hawks a new single season record with 36 victories, topping the previous mark of 35 set in 1990 when the team won its fifth and most recent PSAC championship.
The offense has been the strength of the team this season, entering the postseason with a team batting average of .330 and school records of 98 doubles and 41 home runs to go along with 30 triples.  Shayne Busti has belted 11 homers, one shy of the school record, and set an IUP mark with 60 RBIs.  T.J. Nichols (.415) and Paul Bingham (.407) are the two leading hitters while Bingham has a team best 20 of IUP's 90 stolen bases.  Colby Betz paces the pitching staff with a 7-0 record and 50 strikeouts in 54.1 innings while twin brother Corey combined with Shane Melhorn for nine saves.
The other PSAC Championship participants are:
            Shippensburg (West No. 1, 33-21, 14-6 PSAC West), the defending PSAC champion, is making its sixth consecutive appearance in the PSAC Baseball Championship and its 25th overall. The Red Raiders have captured a total of 16 conference championships, including 10 tournament titles. Shippensburg has won three of last eight PSAC championships, taking home the title in 2000, 2003 and 2007. This season marked the Red Raiders' first outright Western Division championship in their four years since moving from the East to the West in 2005. Leading the way for the Red Raiders this season are senior Justin Garber and junior Matt Wright. Offensively, Garber is batting a team-high .441 with 86 hits, just five shy of the school record of 91 set by Chad Stecker '05 in 2004. Already the school's career hits leader with 269, Garber needs only 15 to tie Mansfield's Greg Robertson for the all-time PSAC record. The school's all-time leader in strikeouts, Wright needs just four more to become only the third player in PSAC history to total 300. He already holds the school record with 296. Wright has totaled 112 strikeouts this season and needs just two more to break the school record of 113 set by Evan Englebrook '04 in 2004.

            Slippery Rock (West No. 3, 25-21, 12-8 PSAC West) will be making its third straight trip to the PSAC Baseball Championships ... The Rock seeks to improve upon its No. 3 finish in both 2006 and 2007 ... SRU seeks its first PSAC title since 2001 ... SRU enters the conference tournament as the No. 3 seed from the Western Division for the second straight year after being the division's No. 2 seed in 2006 ... Rock was one of four teams to earn a share of 2005 PSAC-West title but was denied conference tournament berth by tiebreaker system ... SRU did not earn conference playoff berth in 2004 after being conference runners-up in 2003 ... Rock went on to win regional title and fourth trip to Division II World Series in 2003 ... Jeff Messer has now led Rock to 18 conference tournament appearances in 23 seasons as Rock's head coach ... Messer is PSAC's all-time leader in career wins with 724-414-4 mark and ranks second among all Pennsylvania collegiate head coaches in career victories behind only former Temple boss James Wilson (1034 wins in 46 seasons).

            Millersville (East No. 1, 22-24, 12-8 PSAC East) clinched its first PSAC East regular season division title in eight years after unleashing a sizzling late-season streak. Millersville, which finished last in 2007, began this season by going 6-20 and just 1-12 in games decided by two runs of less. The Marauders then won 16 of their next 18 games to vault atop the PSAC East and qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2000. First-year head coach Jon Sheehan, a former catcher for the Marauders who finished his career in 2004, leads a young group of players that includes sophomore Corey Phelan (.320, 5 HR, 35 RBI, a talented center fielder, and freshman first baseman Derek Kline (.367, 6 HR, 41 RBI).

            West Chester (East No. 3, 38-12, 11-9 PSAC East) set a school mark for wins in the regular-season. The Golden Rams are just one victory shy of the school's all-time single-season mark of 39 victories set in 2006. West Chester has been ranked nationally in the Top 20 all spring in both the Collegiate Baseball coaches' poll and the NCBWA media poll, reaching as high as fifth in the coaches' poll and sixth in media poll. Junior OF Matt Cotellese is second in the PSAC in home runs with 10 and ranks third in batting average at .444. The Rams' right-fielder has not been caught stealing in 19 attempts this year. WCU has been bitten by the injury bug this season, with several key players out of the lineup or battling injuries while still playing.  Starting pitching remains the cornerstone of this year's club, led by Chris Powl (7-2, 2.90 ERA) and Jason Bowman (8-1, 2.76).
             Complete Kutztown results and links to live Webcasts will be available at www.kubears.com<http://www.kubears.com>.


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Josh Leiboff
Kutztown University Sports Information
Phone: (610) 683-4182
Fax: (610) 683-4676
Email: leiboff at kutztown.edu
Website: http://www.kubears.com
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