ERIE, Pa.  The Mercyhurst baseball team will play Bloomsburg in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional on Thursday at host, Millersville.
 
After receiving an at-large bid, Mercyhurst was granted the fifth-seed in the Atlantic Regional and will face the PSAC Champion Bloomsburg who received the fourth-seed. After receiving the fifth seed, this will be the Lakers sixth straight year going to the NCAA Atlantic Regional.
In last year's regional, Mercyhurst also opened up the first round of the tournament against Bloomsburg and defeated the Huskies 5-0. The green and blue would then go onto defeat Seton Hill 4-2, to advance to the NCAA Division II College World Series. 

The Lakers met the Huskies once this year, in the first round of the PSAC tournament.  Bloomsburg took the first round matchup 12-0 in seven innings.  BU would then go onto beat #7 Millersville 7-1 and then win over West Chester 14-3 in seven innings.  Due to weather and time constraint, Bloomsburg would be crowned the PSAC Champs.
 
Leading the Lakers Into Regionals

• Alex O'Donnell leads the Lakers in batting average (.328), hits (45) and RBI (32)
• Domenic DeRenzo leads in homeruns with nine
• Jack Elliott leads the team in extra base hits (16)
• Tyler Garbee leads the Lakers with an ERA of 2.06 ranking him 25^th in the country
• Matthew Minnick leads in strikeouts with 108 (13^th in DII) and leads the Lakers in opposing batting average (.173)

 
Scouting Bloomsburg

• The Huskies (34-14, 18-10) will come into the Atlantic Regional as PSAC Champions with a 3-0 record in the conference tournament
• Carter Chasanov leads BU with a batting average of .355 and also leads the Huskies with 49 hits
• Kyle OFier leads in homeruns with 12 while Cole Swiger leads in RBI (45)
• On the rubber, Ashton Raines leads the team with an ERA of 2.07 and a  7-2 record
• Chad Cooperman leads the team in strikeouts with 75,  with a record of 7-3 and an ERA of 2.73

 
Atlantic Regional Outlook
 

• This year, the Atlantic Regional will be split in half with Millersville and West Chester both hosting
• Millersville is the number one seed in the region and will host Mercyhurst (5^th Seed) and Bloomsburg (4^th Seed)
• West Chester will Host Gannon (3^rd Seed) and the sixth seed, Charleston (WV.)
• The winner of both brackets will play each other in a best of three series, the winner will advance to the NCAA Division II College World Series

 

ATLANTIC REGION 1
Game	Date/Time (ET)	Matchup	Results
Host: Millersville
1	May 16, 1 p.m.	No. 4 Bloomsburg vs. No. 5 Mercyhurst	Live stats
2	May 17, 11 a.m.	No. 1 Millersville vs. Loser of Game 1	Live stats
3	May 17, 2:30 p.m.	Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner/Loser of Game 2	Live stats
4	May 18, 11 a.m.	Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3	Live stats
5	May 18, 2:30 p.m.*	Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3	Live stats
CHAMPION

 
 

ATLANTIC REGION 2
Game	Date/Time (ET)	Matchup	Results
Host: West Chester
1	May 16, 2 p.m.	No. 3 Gannon vs. No. 6 Charleston (WV)	Live stats
2	May 17, 11 a.m.	No. 2 West Chester vs. Loser of Game 1	Live stats
3	May 17, 2:30 p.m.	Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner/Loser of Game 2	Live stats
4	May 18, 11 a.m.	Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3	Live stats
5	May 18, 2:30 p.m.*	Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3	Live stats
CHAMPION