MARIETTA, Ohio — Case Western Reserve coach Matt Englander said he has asked Bradley Potter to fill a difficult role for the Spartans all season.

But even Englander admits asking his junior pitcher to enter a game that had been delayed for nearly 14 hours because of rain was a big ask.

Oh, and by the way Bradley, there are runners on first and third and only one out.

None of it seemed to faze the 5-foot-9 right-hander, who scattered 10 hits and allowed three runs as Case Western Reserve (32-14) stayed alive in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional with a 12-6 victory over Penn State-Altoona (29-13) Friday afternoon at Don Schaly Stadium. [Box Score]

"I knew I was going to be asked to do this after we realized how many pitches Ray (Kelly) had thrown already," Potter said. "I was ready to go. Maybe I was a little nervous at first and I gave up a few runs. But I was able to relax and I knew with so much game left to be played that we had plenty of time to work and get a win."

Now the Spartans will get about a three-hour break before they return to Schaly Stadium to take on Franklin (30-13) in a loser's bracket contest. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

"You can look at this two ways," Englander said. "You can either say we've got a long wait or you can say we get to play baseball again today. We prefer to look at the positive. We're going to stay together as a team and get something to eat and rest a little and then come back ready to play."

CWRU was clearly the squad that returned from the long delay ready to play more. The Spartans erupted for six runs on four hits in the third inning.

Shortstop Matt Keen started the rally by leading off with a double and later scoring. He also reached base later in the inning on an error by Altoona third baseman John Schall. Left-fielder Jimmy Abed had a clutch two-out, two-strike single to right that plated two runs.

"We knew we could drive the baseball a little bit," Englander said. "My concern coming into the regional was if we could be disciplined enough to put down a bunt if we needed one."

Case Western Reserve had no need for small ball on Friday. The Spartans banged out 13 hits, including three each from first baseman Brett Ossola and Keen. Ossola also had three RBI. Right-fielder Sam Alexander went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run, while Abed went 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs.

"I give a lot of credit to our guys for how they responded today," Englander said. "We're pretty inexperienced, especially in a regional. But we have super tough kids and they have been outstanding all year."

Altoona coach Joe Piotti said his team's inability to respond to the big inning was their eventual downfall.

"In this game you either lived or died by the big inning," he said. "That hurt us. We just didn't put enough hits together to have a big inning of our own."

Leading the Lions offensively was Ryan Pollicino, who went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Cord Heine went 3-for-4 and Grady Luzier went 3-for-5 with an RBI.