Moosic, PA – Third-seeded Susquehanna University used a four-run second inning to take early control of Wednesday NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional baseball opener against sixth-seeded Keystone College and held off a ninth-inning comeback bid by the Giants to claim a 5-3 victory.  The Crusaders improve to 29-12 and advance to the winner's bracket while Keystone slips to 27-13 on the year and will play an elimination game on Thursday at 1:15 p.m. at PNC Field.          
 
Keystone will take on the loser of Wednesday's night's game between second-seed and nationally-ranked Rowan University and seventh-seeded Wesleyan University on Thursday afternoon. 
 
Tyler Gurman (Bronx, NY/Lehman) hit a two-out single through the right side and stole second before Rick McLaughlin (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) was hit by a pitch to give Keystone a pair of runners, but Susquehanna starter Spencer Hotaling got a strikeout to escape the jam after Gurman swiped third.
 
Susquehanna, the Landmark Conference champions, took a 4-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning by batting around and taking advantage of four runs, two walks, and on hit batsman in the frame.  Dylan Jenkins and Nick Kennedy hit RBI singles in the inning while Jared Musilli and Dylan Glassmire drew bases-loaded walks to give the Crusaders the four-run advantage before Keystone starter Mike Pembleton (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Township) got the final out of the inning on a strikeout with the bases jammed to prevent any further damage.
 
Kevin Catherina (Ridgefield, NJ/St. Mary (Rutherford)) led off the visitor's third with an infield single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Ricky Riscica (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) worked a two-out walk to give the Giants runners on the corners, but Hotaling got a groundout to get out of the inning. 
 
Gurman, Cody Darley (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast), and Catherina all hit singles in the top of the seventh inning, but a close pickoff play at second followed by a pop-out kept the Giants off the scoreboard.  The Crusaders would put a runner on third with one out in the home half of the frame, but Pembleton got a groundout followed by a pop-out to keep Keystone's deficit at four runs.
 
With one out in the visitor's eighth, Riscica beat out an infield single and advanced to third on a base hit up the middle by Lymbel Guerrero (Lynn, MA/Lynn Classical).  Following a strikeout, Gurman lifted an RBI double to the gap in left-center to score Riscica as the Giants got on the board and cut their deficit to 4-1, but reliever A.J. Pinto was able to get the final out of the inning while stranding runners at second and third.
 
Susquehanna got the run back in the bottom half of the inning though, taking advantage of a fielding error by the Giants with two outs in the frame.

Darley led off the Keystone ninth with a walk before Catherina reached on an error.  Dylan Corl (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch ) followed with a pinch hit RBI single to right-center that scored Darley to cut the Giants' deficit to three runs before Catherina scored on an RBI groundout by Riscica as Keystone narrowed the deficit to 5-3.  Representing the tying run at the plate, Guerrero laced a line drive that the Crusaders' left fielder made a fine sliding catch on to end the game.        
 
Hotaling (5-3) earned the win for Susquehanna after tossing 7.2 innings and being charged with one run on nine hits and one walk while striking out seven batters on the day.  Pinto yielded two runs on two hits in 0.1 official innings while Matt Smith picked up his 11^th save of the season by recording the final three outs of the Crusaders in the ninth inning.
 
Jenkins went 3-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Palsi added a pair of hits for Susquehanna, who recorded 10 hits on the day. 
 
Gurman was 3-4 with an RBI to pace Keystone's offense while Riscica and Catherina had two hits apiece for the Giants, who had 11 hits in the loss. 
 
Pembleton (5-2) was charged with the loss after yielding five runs on 10 hits and two walks while fanning six batters in 7.2 innings on the hill.  Robert Minaya (North Bergen, NJ/North Bergen) came on in relief with two outs in the bottom of the eighth and recorded the final out for the Giants via the strikeout.  
 
In earlier first round action on Wednesday, #4 Baldwin-Wallace University defeated #5 Misericordia University 8-4 while #8 Haverford College upset #1 Moravian College, 3-1.