ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University baseball team suffered its first loss of the double-elimination NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Championship on Friday afternoon after dropping an 8-1 decision to the Griffins of Seton Hill University at Jerry Uht Park. The Lakers, who won their tournament opener on Thursday against West Virginia State, dropped to 36-9 overall while the Griffins staved off elimination and improved to 43-12.

With the loss, Mercyhurst will play against West Chester University in the first elimination game of the day on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. Seton Hill will play Millersville in the second elimination game at 3:30 p.m. while the winner of the Mercyhurst-West Chester game will have to play again at 7:00 p.m. against Winston-Salem State, which has not lost thus far in the tournament.

Redshirt senior Jon Klein, the PSAC West Pitcher of the Year, battled through 4.2 innings, but just did not seem to get comfortable on the mound Friday afternoon. He allowed seven runs (all earned) on ten hits, walked three, and struck out three in suffering just his second loss of the season. Entering the contest, Klein had allowed only nine earned runs in 59.1 innings of work. The righthander fell to 8-2 on the year.

The Lakers scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the second inning against Seton Hill starter, Mike Bittel. After the Griffin righthander retired the first two batters of the inning, junior Austin Alonge singled, senior Jake Marinelli walked, and freshman Daniel Elliott laced a single through the right side of the infield that scored Alonge from second.

Unfortunately, that was all Mercyhurst could muster against Bittel. The Seton Hill starter went six innings and allowed seven hits while walking three and striking out eight. Bittel improved to 7-5 on the season.

Klein allowed three Seton Hill hits in the first inning but the Griffins left the bases loaded when Cody Herald flew out to center. He allowed a hit and a walk over the course of the next two innings and seemingly was getting into a groove.

But, in the top of the fourth, Herald singled and Pat McCarthy followed with a two-run home run to left field to give the Griffins a 2-1 lead. McCarthy's fourth home run of the season also proved to be the first home run of the entire tournament.

Klein couldn't get out of the fifth as the Griffins touched up the righthander with five runs on three hits. Herald delivered a sacrifice fly for the first run of the inning. Then, with two outs, Matt Malacane had a two-run single and Zac Heide followed with a two-run double to end Klein's afternoon. Junior reliever Ben Nolan got out of the inning with any further damage.

Nolan pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning to keep the Seton Hill advantage at 7-1. Freshman Matthew Minnick came on and pitched two innings of scoreless relief. The lefthander allowed two hits while striking out three.

The Griffins added a run in the top of the ninth against redshirt senior Jordan Bray. Herald doubled with two outs and McCarthy brought him home with a single back up the middle.

Mercyhurst had an opportunity to climb back in the game in the bottom of the fifth and then again in the home half of the seventh but could not score. In the fifth, redshirt senior Ryan Siegel and junior Brendan Cox had back-to-back one-out singles to put two runners on for the #4 and #5 hitters – senior Giancarlo Saia and junior Hank Morrison. However, Bittel got Saia to line out to short and then struck out Morrison on a 2-2 offering.

In the seventh, Mercyhurst loaded the bases against Seton Hill reliever Logan Urtz but could not get a runner to cross home plate. Urtz, meanwhile, went on to earn a three-inning save after allowing two hits and two walks.

Mercyhurst left 11 runners on base in the loss and was outhit 14-9 in the contest. Siegel, Cox, and senior Angel Martinez each had two hits to lead the Lakers offensively. Heide had three hits for the Griffins while four others had two hits apiece.

Mercyhurst and West Chester have met one time this season with the Lakers earning a 14-2 victory over the Golden Rams in the PSAC Tournament. The winner of the 12:00 p.m. game between Mercyhurst and West Chester will advance to meet Winston-Salem State at 7:00 p.m. The loser's season comes to an end.