GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- Gwynedd Mercy secured its spot in the 2017 Colonial States Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament with their 15-6 win over Marywood on Thursday.

The Griffins , who needed one win of their three games with the Pacers this weekend to cement that postseason berth, battled back from a 5-0 deficit and used a nine-run seventh inning to break things open. With the loss, Marywood was eliminated from playoff contention.

Dave Tatoian drove in six runs, four which came one swing, a grand slam as part of that nine-spot in the seventh. He would finish 3-for-4 with a pair of runs as well. Nick Mulvey and Justin Curtin each had two hits and two RBI's while Jason Mulvey walked three times and scored twice, while adding a pair of stolen bases. Iziah Trimble was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs as a total of seven different Griffins drove in at least a run.

The Pacers struck first, getting a run in the first on an RBI double from Jake Schuster. GMercyU threatened in the second and third, getting two runners on in each frame, but could not get them home.

In the fourth with the bases loaded and two outs, Marywood took advantage of a throwing error on a potential force out to score twice followed by a two-run single from Trevor Powers for a 5-0 lead.

However, the Griffins answered in a big way in the bottom half, scoring five runs of their own, all coming with two outs. With two on, Trimble hit one through the hole at short to score Josh Lopez to get on the board. After Curtin reached via a hit by pitch, Mulvey walked to force another run home. Tatoian made it 5-4 as his single to left scored Trimble and Curtin. Now with runners on the corners, Tatoian's attempted steal of second was able to draw a throw down, which allowed Mulvey to steal home and we would have a 5-5 ballgame.

Gino Tripodi entered in the fifth for starter R.J. Boyle to get a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the frame, Shaughn Wright led off with a walk, moved up to second on a wild pitch, then over to third on a groundout. Nick Mulvey was able to get a ball in the air to right to bring home Wright and give GM its first lead of the contest.

In the sixth, Tripodi made a big defensive play to keep Marywood off the scoreboard. With a runner on second with no outs, Tripodi made a diving grab off an attempted sacrifice bunt and was able to throw back to second to double off the runner for the double play.

The Pacers crossed a run in the top of the seventh on an RBI double from Matt Staback to make it a 6-6 game.

The seventh saw Gwynedd bat around and total nine runs on seven hits and a Marywood error. Tatoian led off the inning, singling to left. Keen advanced him to second on a sac bunt where Jason Mulvey delivered a single to center to score Tatoian. Justin Perez would enter for starter James Goetz and give up back-to-back RBI hits. Later with the bags full, Curtin hit one up the middle to score two more runs. After a walk to Mulvey, Tatoian had his second at-bat of the frame and crushed the first pitch he saw over the fence in right for his team and conference leading ninth homerun of the season.

Boyle would go four innings, giving up five runs (one earned) on six hits with two K's and three walks. Tripodi threw two innings before Liam Sullivan entered in the seventh, where the freshman would pick up the win, his first collegiate victory. Zach Dennis came on to retire the side in order in the eighth and ninth to close it out.

The two teams will meet on Saturday in a doubleheader in Scranton. Gwynedd is in the mix along with Neumann for the #3 playoff seed. Both teams have identical conference records, but the Griffins own the tiebreaker with the Knights.