WEST LAWN, Pa. -- Mercyhurst pitchers Joe Gnacinski and Jake Hall combined on a five-hitter as the 18th-ranked Laker baseball team defeated Shepherd, 4-1, in an NCAA Atlantic Regional matchup on Sunday at Ted Palka Park.

Gnacinski gave up one run on four hits to earn the victory in seven innings of work. He totaled seven strikeouts and three walks.

Hall threw two scoreless frames, recording four strikeouts and one walk while earning the save.

Austin Alonge, Chris Gonzalez, Hank Morrison and Daniel Elliott had two-hit games for the Lakers (43-13). Alonge and Elliott were 2-for-4 while Gonzalez and Morrison went 2-for-5.

Also for the Mercyhurst offense, Jimmy Latona tripled and Sabatino DiNardo III doubled.

Shepherd's Jacob Carney, who batted 3-for-4, drove in the lone Ram run in the third inning. He had an RBI single.

DiNardo and Latona had their extra-base hits in Mercyhurst's two-run fifth. DiNardo's two-bagger was followed by Latona's triple. Collin Fantaskey hit a sacrifice fly to plate Latona, giving the Lakers a 2-1 advantage -- a lead they would not relinquish.

With Mercyhurst ahead 2-1 in the eighth, Hall escaped a major jam, recording an inning-ending strikeout with runners on second and third.\

The Lakers tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth -- one on an error and another on an RBI single by Morrison.

Jamie Driver was the losing pitcher for Shepherd, allowing two runs on six hits in five innings.

Mercyhurst is now set for a championship-round matchup against second-ranked Millersville. The teams will meet on Monday at 12 p.m. The Lakers will need to win that contest to force a winner-take-all game, which would also occur Monday.