Box Score Interview with Mayza | Interview with Coach Shehan

Winston-Salem, N.C. - Concord struck first, but Tim Mayza did what aces do. Overcoming an early Concord onslaught and battling his command, he minimized the damage and kept his team close. The Marauder offense rallied twice and held on for a 5-4 win in the opening round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional at Gene Hooks Field in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Mayza (11-3) was tagged for seven hits in the first three innings, and Concord (36-19), which entered the game with a .360 team batting average, put nine runners on base in the first three innings. Mayza, however, held the Mountain Lions to just two runs early and stranded six base runners through three. Millersville (39-16) picked up its pitcher by scoring at least one run in each of the first three innings and took a 5-2 lead.

PSAC East Player of the Year Zach Stone doubled in Jeremy Musser in the first inning. Tyler Orris followed a David Pine double with one of his own in the second to tie the game at three. Evan King made it three consecutive hits with a RBI single that gave the Marauders their first lead of the game. The lead was extended in the third when Tyler McDonald ripped a two-out, two-run double to left-center field.

Against an offense that led Division II with 514 runs scored, the lead was hardly safe. Joey Miller hit his 14th homer of the season in fifth to cut the lead to two, and Concord chased Mayza one batter into the eighth when Ryan Johnston led off with a double. Mayza's day ended allowing 10 hits and four runs while striking out seven. Adam Zipko entered and after walking the first batter, he forced Josh Wenger into a 6-4-3 double play that scored Johnston. With the lead down to one, Zipko escaped the inning and then mowed through the top of the lineup in the ninth for his PSAC-best eighth save of the season.

Ryan Weatherholtz (4-2), who suffered a 3-1 loss against Millersville in the opening game of the 2011 Atlantic Regional, took the loss again. He surrendered five runs on eight hits in five innings. Tim Leather gave Concord three perfect innings out of the pen. Mayza allowed more than three runs in a start for the first time all season, but boosted his strikeout total to 91 in 98.2 innings this season.

Stone, who entered the game with a .371 career average in 17 postseason appearances, improved upon that average with a double and single and reached base three times. Orris also finished with two hits.

Millersville boosted its all-time regional record to an impressive 10-3, and has now won five consecutive regional contests. Millersville advanced in the bracket will have an opportunity to eliminate the loser PSAC East rival Shippensburg at 2:30 p.m. Friday.