Mansfield — Junior Axel De Jesus was remarkably calm given the magnitude of Thursday's postseason elimination game.

There was a lot of pressure on De Jesus, Mitchell College's starting pitcher, but he didn't feel it prior to the NCAA Division III New England regional tournament losers' bracket game.

"I wasn't nervous at all actually," De Jesus said. "I mentioned to my pitching coach (Bryan Rembisz), 'Is it bad that I'm too relaxed right now?'"

"I just had the mentally that I had to give our guys another day."

De Jesus delivered a career best postseason performance, throwing a complete game, and his Mitchell teammates supplied some timely hits to oust seventh-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University, 3-2.

"Axel was as good as you could ask for," coach Travis Beausoleil said. "He did a stellar, stellar, stellar job."

Sophomore Kyle Hartenstein's two-run single in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie and helped hand Mitchell (28-10) its second NCAA tournament victory in school history. De Jesus also earned the first win, going the final 1.2 innings in a 4-3 win over Eastern in 11 innings in 2014.

The sixth-seeded Mariners felt they had something to prove after a lethargic effort in an 8-1 loss to No. 3 Tufts in the opener on Wednesday. Last year, they lasted just two games in the NCAA tournament.

"My message to these guys was only justification," Beausoleil said. "That's what today does. ... Today's win justifies two years of extremely good baseball teams."

Mitchell will likely play No. 8 Salem State (24-19-1) at 10 a.m. Friday in a losers' bracket game. Salem lost to No. 4 Keystone in a winners' bracket game.

The Mariners were far from perfect, committing three errors, one of which led to Eastern taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. They finished with eight hits, but stranded 10 base-runners. Hartenstein went 3-for-3 and junior Francis Prettitore's single in the third inning knocked in the tying run.

Hartenstein's opposite field bloop hit came with two outs in the fourth and scored Garet Griffin and Norwich Free Academy graduate Brandon Russo, who reached on a walk and infield single, respectively.

"Coach always tells us that the good teams get two-out hits," Hartenstein said. "I just happened to be up in that spot and I came through, thankfully."

De Jesus (6-2) consistently got ahead in the count and put Eastern batters on the defensive. He scattered eight hits while walking one and striking out two. He threw 122 pitches, including 85 strikes.

Mitchell survived some nervous moments in the ninth. Alex Zachary led off with his 10th home run of the season. Then, with two outs, De Jesus allowed consecutive singles.

Beausoleil walked toward the mound intending to replace De Jesus with Domenick Giaramida. But he thought that Eastern coach Matt LaBranche might opt for a pinch-hitter if a reliever entered the game, so he stuck with De Jesus.

"I made it that far, so I wanted to finish it," De Jesus said. "I still had gas to go. I guess he got my mind message that I didn't want to come out."

De Jesus retired No. 8 batter Christian Budzik on a long fly ball to left to end the game.

Senior Clayton Shaw (0-0, 3.41) will start Friday for the Mariners.

g.keefe@theday.com