Shippensburg, Seton Hill Slated to Win Baseball Divisions

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PSAC East Information
PSAC West Information

Lock Haven, Pa. – Backed by three first-place votes apiece Shippensburg of the East and Seton Hill in the West have been chosen by the leagues’ head coaches to win their respective PSAC baseball divisions.
 
For the first time in school history Seton Hill was chosen first in a PSAC preseason poll. The Griffins capped the 2013 campaign atop the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division with a 26-8 conference record. Seton Hill made its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Atlantic Regional a season ago. The Griffins enter 2014 with their most potent offensive weapon from a year ago Nick Sell. Sell finished his sophomore season with a .431 batting average on a WVIAC-leading 85 hits, 16 doubles and 13 round-trippers.
 
Seton Hill’s top hurler, Alex Haines, returns after earning a 2.35 ERA in 76.2 innings pitched with 91 strikeouts and a .232 opponent batting average. Also in the bullpen, Brett Sullivan is back after capping his sophomore year with 13 wins and 79.1 innings on the hill.
 
Pat Kregeloh returns to the reigning NCAA Atlantic Region Champion Shippensburg line-up. Kregeloh, a 2013 PSAC East First Team utility selection, led the PSAC with nine homeruns and 60 RBI. He also established a 3.47 ERA in 93.1 innings of work on the mound and struck out 68 batters last season. Shippensburg welcomes back five of its eight top hitters from 2013. The Raiders combined for a .309 batting average in 2013 that ranked just below Millersville’s PSAC-high .315 team average.
 
Shippensburg was last selected first on a PSAC preseason poll in 2006 when the Raiders competed in the Western Division.
 
Millersville received three first-place nods in the voting and ranks second in the East Division. The Marauders have captured the PSAC East title twice in the last three seasons and return PSAC East Pitcher of the Year Chris Murphy and PSAC East Player of the Year Zach Stone. Stone led the PSAC East with a .406 batting average in 2013, while topping the league with 80 hits. Murphy turned-in a no-hitter and a perfect game last season and totaled 12 wins with a 2.29 ERA and 96 strikeouts.
 
East Stroudsburg took third in the voting with one first-place vote, while Mansfield picked-up the final East first-place nod and is ranked seventh. East Stroudsburg, the defending PSAC Champions, led the league in defense a year ago with a team fielding percentage of .972 and return five to its defensive core; Drew Hercik returns to third, Chris Knott to center field, Andy Brandstetter to left field, and Eric Linares to shortstop. Knott finished 2013 with a team-best .374 batting average and the East’s highest slugging percentage of .674.
 
In the West Division, Mercyhurst, ranked second, took a pair of first-place votes, as did No. 3 Slippery Rock. California snagged the final first-place nod and came-in fourth in the voting. The Lakers return three All-PSAC West selections from 2013 led by relief hurler and First Team honoree Tanner Delahoy. Sophomore second baseman Brendan Cox and outfielder Ryan Sigel were both Second Team selections in 2013. The Rock returns shortstop Will Kengor, the league’s most effective hitter last season with a .449 batting average on 79 hits, 16 doubles, five triples, and 28 RBI. The Vulcans will enter 2014 having lost the PSAC West Athlete of the Year Kyle Petty to graduation, but do return All-PSAC First Team selection Chuck Gasti in the outfield and Second Team picks Derek Zeroski, Justin Taylor, and David Marcus. 
 
Listed below are the 2014 PSAC baseball preseason polls. First place votes are in parenthesis.

Eastern Division
1. Shippensburg (3)
2. Millersville (3)
3. East Stroudsburg (1)
4. West Chester
5. Kutztown
6. Bloomsburg
7. Mansfield (1)
8. Lock Haven
 
Western Division
1. Seton Hill (3)
2. Mercyhurst (2)
3. Slippery Rock (2)
4. California (1)
5. Gannon
6. IUP
7. Pitt-Johnstown
8. Clarion