The UNA Lions fell 2-0 to a Gulf South Conference rival in their opening game of the NCAA Regional tournament on a long, rain-delayed Thursday.

The Lions lost to second-seeded Delta State University who eliminated UNA earlier this month in the GSC tournament. 

After the game, UNA third baseman Andrew Almon said he was frustrated.

“They threw the same pitcher that beat us in the GSC tournament in tonight’s game,” Almon said.  “We just couldn’t get any runs across.”

UNA put Chad Boughner on the mound for the opening game. Boughner allowed seven hits through seven innings and only allowed one earned run.  Boughner along with second baseman, Michael Schmidt, are finalists for the Tino Martinez Award which goes to the top player in Division II baseball.

Almon said the game was determined by UNA’s inability to bring runners in, while DSU made it count when players were on the bases.

“When we got runners in scoring position we couldn’t come up with a hit to bring them in,” Almon said.  “They found ways to get a hit when they had men on base and that was the difference.”

UNA Head Coach Mike Keehn said this was a similar problem during the GSC tournament. 

“We made some mistakes tonight with not getting our guys across the plate when we got on base,” Keehn said.  “I thought our pitcher matched their pitcher, we just couldn’t get a hit when we needed it.”

The opening day of play was delayed for two hours due to heavy rain the night before that soaked the field.  UNA will find out their next opponent once the opening round is completed Friday morning.

“We have the pitching to go deep into this tournament,” Almon said.  “We just need to find a way to get our offense going and get our bats hot.”