Livingston, Ala. – Lynn University's baseball team dropped its NCAA South Region Tournament opener 8-1 to second-seeded Nova Southeastern on Thursday afternoon.  The No. 5 seed Fighting Knights await their next opponent, the loser of host West Alabama/Albany State, of whom they will play on Friday, May 15, at 11 am CT.

Nova Southeastern (39-11) had good use of the long ball to help it jump out to an early 4-0 lead.  After a RBI ground out gave the Sharks a 1-0 advantage in the third, Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, and the league home run leader, Just Garcia blasted a two-run home run.  Michael Hernandez followed with a solo jack.

A bases loaded single, walk and hit batter added three more runs in the frame, six in total, and Nova Southeastern's lead grew to 7-0.

Travis Connolly was tagged for seven runs, six earned, on seven hits over 3.1 innings.  Jonathan Wake tossed 3.2 innings of relief, with one run allowed on one hit and two walks.

Lynn was able to get on the scoreboard in the seventh when All-SSC First Team selection John Borup hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field, allowing Ben Schwanberg to reach home.  Garcia responded, though, with another home run, this time a solo shot, to lead off the bottom half of the inning.

Game time for the Blue & White's second contest is set for 11 a.m.  A victory will keep Lynn in the NCAA Tournament while a loss would send the team home.  Fans can watch the action live at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive in-game updates by following @Lynn_Knights on Twitter and Instagrams.