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LANCASTER – East Stroudsburg University rallied from a 4-0 deficit with two runs in the eighth inning, but left the tying run on first base in the ninth as the Warriors' 2011 baseball season ended with a 4-2 loss to Mercyhurst in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional on Sunday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

Freshmen Keenan Stare and Keith Moyer held Mercyhurst to five hits, but the Lakers got single runs in the first and third innings and two in the sixth to go ahead before the Warriors nearly rallied late.

Left-hander Ben Rawding gave up seven hits in a complete game effort for Mercyhurst (42-11), which advances to the regional final on Monday against Millersville. The Marauders will need one win to advance out of the region after beating Mercyhurst, 8-5, in the final winners bracket game on Sunday afternoon.

ESU had 20 hits in a 17-3 win over Concord in its first game on Sunday and finishes with a 2-2 performance in its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1985. The Warriors had a come-from-behind 6-5 (11 inn.) win over Seton Hill on Friday night and lost to Mercyhurst, 4-1, on Saturday night in their first two games. They wrap up a 27-20 season as the No. 3 team in the region after entering as the No. 4 seed.

Stare, who pitched the 11th inning for the save in the win over Seton Hill on Friday night, gave the Warriors 6.0 innings and allowed four runs on three hits, struck out five and walked five. Moyer struck out four, walked two and gave up two hits in 3.0 innings in relief and stranded the bases loaded in the ninth to give ESU a chance to win it.

Rawding blanked the Warriors and allowed just four hits through the first seven innings before they broke through in the eighth. Freshman DH Eric Forth (2-for-4), who was 7-for-13 in the regional, led off the inning with a single, and sophomore C Nico Delerme followed with a base hit.

Forth scored ESU's first run on a wild pitch and sophomore pitcher Colin Kelly, who was pinch running for Delerme, moved to second on the play. After junior 2B Ryan Guarino walked, Kelly scored the second run of the inning on a bizarre play as freshman OF Matt Bahnick reached on an error by the shortstop, Guarino moved to third and Bahnick was eventually thrown out trying to advance to second.

The Warriors' momentum was killed in one play, however, when junior SS Evan Gallagher lifted a fly ball down the right field line. Shane Latshaw made the catch and threw home, where it appeared that Guarino's head-first slide beat the tag but he was called out to end the inning with the score 4-2.

Mercyhurst loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth with a single and two walks, but Gallagher made a nice play deep in the hole to retire designated hitter Bill Gerstenslager as Moyer got out of the inning.

For the second straight night, ESU got the tying run on base against Mercyhurst in the bottom of the ninth, but once again it wasn't meant to be.

Redshirt junior 3B Jake Griesemer walked to start the inning, and after Rawding struck out sophomore OF Eric Boyer, sophomore 1B Brian Ernst singled up the middle to represent the tying run. Rawding bore down and retired freshman OF Chris Knott on strikes, and Forth hit a ground ball up the middle that was handled by second baseman Zak Blair to end the game and the Warriors' season.

Mercyhurst capitalized on leadoff walks by shortstop Jonathan Keppler, who set the PSAC single-season record with 52 walks in the first inning, to score in the first and third frames. In the sixth, Craig Denman hit a one-out single, Latshaw had an RBI double and scored on a groundout by Justin Urschel.

Blair and Denman both had two hits and Latshaw collected Mercyhurst's other hit as Stare and Moyer held the Lakers' bats, which were hitting .325 entering the game, to a 5-for-30 day.

Mercyhurst, ranked No. 17 in Division II, handed ESU three of its final four losses in a 27-20 season which included its second straight trip to the PSAC Tournament. The Warriors dropped their PSAC opener to the Lakers, 6-5 (11 inn.), after rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the ninth but were held off in the final frame in both of their losses in the Atlantic Regional.

More notes from the Warriors' second-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament will be posted on Monday on esuwarriors.com.