Box Score CARY, N.C. --- Minnesota State found itself in a three-run hole after the first inning and was unable to complete the comeback as it stranded 11 runners in a 4-2 defeat to Atlantic Region champion, Seton Hill, at the NCAA DII Baseball Championships Sunday afternoon at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
 
The loss drops the Mavericks to 45-10 on the year, while the Griffins elevate to 41-15 overall. MSU will play the Colorado Mesa/St. Thomas Aquinas loser Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET with SHU battling the winner at 7 p.m. ET.
 
Minnesota State threatened against SHU sophomore righthander Mike Bittel loading the bases with one down in the first half inning before a strikeout and fly out quelled the threat. The Griffins struck for a trio of tallies in the bottom half off MSU senior righthander Jason Hoppe as junior Nicholas Sell pulled a RBI single through the left side, before sophomore Matt Malacane yanked a two-run single into left field putting Seton Hill in front, 3-0.
 
The Mavericks fired right back in the top of the second ignited by a leadoff double down the right field line from senior Mike Andries. Fellow senior Parker Sullivan followed with a one-out triple to deep centerfield plating Andries and later scored on a wild pitch slicing the MSU deficit to 3-2.
 
That score held into the seventh inning when the Purple and Gold was unable to bring a runner home from scoring position for the second straight inning, increasing MSU's left on base total to nine.
 
After MSU stranding a runner in the top of the eighth, Seton Hill pushed across an insurance run with two down in the bottom half when Malacane dropped a RBI single into centerfield extending the Griffins a two-run cushion.
 
Senior Todd Standish roped his second base hit of the contest to right-center with one out in the top of the ninth, but the Mavericks were denied by sophomore righthander Jesse Cooper who locked down the 4-2 SHU victory.
 
Hoppe (11-3) scattered 10 hits, four earned runs and a pair of walks with six strikeouts over eight frames en route to setting the program's single-season inning pitched record at 97.2. Bittel (9-2) allowed six hits and two runs with a pair of strikeouts as Cooper registered his 17th save of the season. Junior Brett Sullivan added three innings of two-hit scoreless relief for the Griffins.
 
Standish and junior Nolan Johnson each finished two-for-five, while Sullivan went two-of-four with a run and a RBI.