St. Cloud, Minn. -- A three-run inning for the fifth ranked Minnesota State Mavericks did in 15th ranked Missouri Southern as the Lions fell 3-1 to the Mavericks in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament today at Bob Ross Park in St. Cloud. 

The Lions (40-13) got on the board first when Chris Hoffman had a one-out double in the sixth inning. He then scored when Jesse Rall sent a shot into left center for the RBI single. 

The Mavericks (42-7) answered right back, however, as MSU scored three in the bottom half of the inning. Eric Peterson started things off with an RBI single, scoring Kyle Toth. Max Waletich added a sacrifice fly for an RBI and then Nolan Johnson singled home Peterson for the final run. 

Payton Walker started for Missouri Southern and the junior lefty went six innings, striking out six and walking just one. He allowed three runs and was saddled with his third loss (8-3) of the season. Kanon Hoover threw two innings of one-hit relief and struck out three, while walking none. 

Hoffman, Rall and Axel Johnson had a hit each for the Lions with Rall driving in the lone run. 

Dalton Roach started for the Mavericks and went the distance, striking out ten and walking three to move his record to 6-1 on the season. 

With the nine strikeouts in the game, the Lions have 404 strikeouts as a team on the season and sit just four from tying the single-season record of 408. 

Southern will face off with the No. 1 seed and number one ranked St. Cloud State in an elimination game at 2:15 pm. The Huskies lost 10-4 to Henderson State in their opener.