GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team fell in the opening game of the NCAA Atlantic Regional to the No. 2 seed Seton Hill on Thursday afternoon, 14-6, at the SHU Baseball Complex.
 
Shippensburg (27-24) out-hit the region's top-hitting team, notching 14 base hits in the contest, including five in the first inning to take an early 4-0 lead.
 
Seton Hill (45-10) took control soon after, posting 11 runs across the first two frames.
 
The Raiders opened the game with four consecutive hits. Sophomore Carter Hinds led off the game with a single to right field. Freshman Mike Heckman  reached on a bunt to third base, bringing graduate Justin Byler to the plate. After watching the first pitch in for a ball, Byler drove a three-run homer over the right field wall to give SU the early advantage.
 
Junior Austin Baal followed suit with single to center field. Baal advanced to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt from junior Andrew Chronister and a left field single from sophomore Gio Calamia. A ground out from sophomore Bryce Herb brought Baal across the plate to extend Shippensburg's lead.
 
In the bottom of the first, Jack Whalen opened the scoring for the Griffins, crossing the plate on a balk.
Jack Oberdorf put SHU back within one after blasting a shot over the left field wall. Seton Hill continued to rally, posting an additional four runs to take a 7-4 lead after one inning.
 
The Griffins tacked on seven more runs across the next three innings to take a commanding 14-4 lead.
 
The Raiders picked up a run in the sixth on an RBI ground out from freshman Tony Falvo to bring Herb home.
 
Heckman scored in the seventh on Baal's 46th RBI of the season, a ground out to first.
 
Junior Jackson LoBianco fell to 3-4 on the season after earning the start for Shippensburg, facing six batters in the first.
 
Freshman J.T. Weaver threw 94 pitches in relief across 5.2 innings, his highest workload since March 5 against Le Moyne.
 
Freshman Brenden Anderson pitched one inning of relief in the ninth, striking out two batters.
 
Hinds extended his hitting streak to 16 games, going 4-for-5 at the dish. He became the first Raider to record four hits in an NCAA tournament game since May 14, 1999, when Dan Hogan accomplished the feat against Millersville.
 
Calamia went 3-for-4 on the day, including a double in the third.
 
SU faces the loser of the Mercyhurst/East Stroudsburg game tomorrow in an elimination game starting at 11 a.m.