Erie, Pa. – "We aren't bunting. Go win the game." Millersville junior Dan Stoltzfus delivered on Coach Jon Shehan's command. The first pitch Seton Hill's Jon Shaffer threw to Stoltzfus was blistered over the right field wall, ending an epic, 13-inning NCAA Atlantic Regional elimination game with a three-run, walk-off homer. The Marauders advanced to championship Sunday for the second season in a row and avenged back-to-back elimination losses by the Griffins, 6-3.
 
"I said it on Twitter earlier today. If you weren't watching you better listen because it's going to be a good one," said Shehan. "Everyone in the park got their monies worth. We didn't play that well but it doesn't matter," said Shehan. "We battled, and battled, and battled."
 
The win-or-go-home game that pitted the No. 9 and No. 11 teams in the Division II rankings was the kind of fight that fans wished Mayweather-Pacquiao would have been. The thriller featured it all: diving defensive catches (tip of the cap to Jeremy Musser and Matt Malacane), timely hits, unlikely pitching performances, gutsy at bats from tired, injured student-athletes and finger-nail-chewing suspense. Even after committing four errors, giving up a pair of early unearned runs and not recording a hit from the seventh until the 13th, Millersville wrestled the win away from the arch-nemesis that had ended their NCAA regional in 2013 and 2014. It ended after Shehan put his arm around his first baseman and encouraged him to swing away with runners on first and second.
 
"This is the team is the most mentally tough team I've coached," said Shehan. "The 2011 team was an unbelievable club, but this team is so resilient. There are so many kids that live and die with the 'M' on the hat. I'm just so proud of the way they battled. This is the second week that they've done this. Anything can happen. If there is a team that can come back after losing the first game, it's this one."
 
Jim McDade took a no-decision but gave up just one earned run on four hits over six innings. It was a measure of redemption for the junior after he took the loss against the Griffins in the regional in 2014. He gave way to fifth-year senior Jesse Mowen, who came in with a runner on first base. Mowen, whose longest outing of the season was 1.1 innings, channeled the spirit of legendary Marauder reliever Adam Zipko, and sidearmed his way through the most potent offense in the Atlantic Region, giving up just one hit over three crucial innings.
 
Mowen bridged the gap from the seventh to the ninth. He struck out all-region second baseman Pat McCarthy to end the seventh. Mitch Stoltzfus covered up a Marauder fielding error in the eighth by gunning down a running Cody Herald at second base. Mowen breezed through the ninth, and then handed the ball to sophomore lefty Dylan Boisclair. Boisclair struck out two in the 10th, rolled a 6-3 ground ball to end the 11th, and relied on his defense to get out of a sticky situation in the 12th.
 
Seton Hill started the inning with a walk and Malacane put two on base when Boisclair's throw to get Anthony Fanelli at second skipped into the dirt. Boisclair was undaunted. He got Zach Heide to pop out to second, and the next batter hit a sharp grounder to Tyler McDonald at third. The veteran made a fifth-year-senior type of play, stepping on third and rifling a strike to first base for the 5-3 double play.
 
Millersville sent just one over the minimum to the plate for five innings with only Dan Neff's two-out single in the 12th to show for it. But Boisclair answered the bell in the 13th against the top of Seton Hill's order. The Griffins ran out of chances when Boisclair fooled Daktronics/NCBWA/ABCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year Nick Sell on a low-and-away change-up. Sell, who ranked second in Division II in hitting and homers and first in RBIs, went 1-for-6 with only a single in the first.
 
"Seton Hill's offense is excellent," said Shehan. "They hit some balls hard, and it's a funny game. Some of those balls are hit right at guys, and Jim turns in an excellent game. Mowen comes, the first time he's thrown more than two-thirds of an inning all year and does a fantastic job. He's a fifth-year senior, a mentally tough kid. Dylan Boisclair: just so tough. He came in and pounded the zone."
 
The Seton Hill bullpen could keep the Marauder lineup off-track for only so long. Freshman Perry DellaValle belied his youth in 4.1 innings in which he gave up just one hit and struck out two. Shaffer pitched a scoreless 12th, but the Marauders broke through in the 13th.
 
Musser, who had made a pair of hit-robbing catches with his back to the padded wall in left, hit a liner where no Griffin could take it away to lead off the inning. Chas McCormick bounced a hard bunt right back at Shaffer, but the ball squirted past Shaffer and both runners reached their destinations safely. Stoltzfus then hit the screaming liner that will be forever remembered in Marauder baseball lore.
 
Stoltzfus' homer was emphatic and history-making. His second late-inning homer of the postseason not only sealed a hard-fought Marauder win, but it also gave him 15 on the season, which set a single-season school record. The three RBIs boosted his season total to 81.
 
Millersville's first three runs came in the third and sixth. Musser drove home David Summerfield with a sacrifice fly in the third. Summerfield, gutting out his first start of the regional with a bad wheel, tied the single-season school record for hits (80) with his third-inning single. Seton Hill took advantage of a two-out error and walk to tie the game at 1-1 with a Fanelli single. The Griffins jumped in front in the fifth when Garrett Vrbanic reached on a debated hit-by-pitch and scored on McCarthy's base hit.
 
Mitch Stoltzfus retied the game the very next inning with a RBI fielder's choise, and McDonald gave Millersville a 3-2 lead with a double off the wall in left. Mercyhurst retaliated in the seventh, scoring an unearned run when an errant throw in from the outfield allowed Malacane to scoot home from third. That set the stage for the thrilling six innings that followed.
 
Millersville hopes it can carry the momentum of the walk-off win into Sunday like it did in the PSAC Tournament two weeks ago. The Marauders, however, have plenty of work left as they must win two games on Sunday to advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament in Cary, N.C.
 
The Marauders play Winston-Salem State at 12 p.m. regardless of the outcome of the Mercyhurst-Winston-Salem State match-up Saturday night. Winston-Salem State can eliminate host Mercyhurst with a win. Mercyhurst can stay alive and punch its ticket to the championship game with a win.