DeLand, Fla. ? Jake Hitchcock threw 4.2 solid innings of relief and Robbie Elsemiller staved off a ninth-inning rally as Stetson defeated Mercer 5-4 to advance to Saturday's Atlantic Sun Conference championship game against ETSU at 1 p.m.
With a 3-0 mark in the tournament, the Hatters (37-22) need just one win against the Buccaneers to claim their second straight conference title. The Buccaneers (31-26), meanwhile, will have to defeat Stetson twice on Saturday to win the championship in their first year in the league.
“Once again I am so proud of the effort, but we have to come out tomorrow like it's a must-win situation,” Hatters head coach Pete Dunn said. “But our guys our focused, and I am happy with the way we have been taking the field.”
Stetson, playing as the visiting team, led 5-1 going into the bottom of the ninth when Mercer rallied for three runs on RBIs by Eric Renfroe, Mike Armstrong, and Billy Shaughnessy. With the tying and winning runs on base, Elsemiller struck out Jason Lowey to preserve the Hatters' third straight one-run victory.
“Robbie gutted it out and got the ?K' when he needed it,” Dunn said. “And Hitchcock found ways to make quality pitches after guys got on base. What else can you say about those two guys tonight?”
The Bears (34-26) put the lead-off runner on base in eight of the nine innings, but managed just one run prior to the ninth on a sacrifice fly in the second inning by Lowey. Mercer left 13 runners on base.
The Hatters, meanwhile, scored single runs in five different innings, including one in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Adam Tindle and one in the ninth on a RBI single by Chris Johnson that scored Brandon Paritz all the way from first base.
Hitchcock came on the fourth inning and worked 4.2 innings of relief to improve to 6-0 on the season. The Hatter freshman allowed one run on two hits, while striking out two before leaving in favor Elsemiller in the ninth. Brett Murphy got the start and allowed one run over 3.1 innings.
Dunn says Will Romanowicz will likely start on Saturday, and may face ETSU's Caleb Glafenhein, who has already started all three games for the Buccaneers.
“We've got something to prove, having lost all three games up there a couple weeks ago,” Dunn said. “By the same token they are coming in with a lot of confidence. It's going to be a tough battle.”
Glafenhein pitched ETSU into the championship with a complete game victory over Florida Atlantic, 5-1. Mercer eliminated Jacksonville 7-6 in the first game of the day.
Box Score
Notes: The Hatters entered the tournament 4-9 in one-run games, but are 3-0 in the last three days ... Stetson is 16-2 in their last 18 home games ... Chris Johnson reached base safely for the 44th straight game but Brian Bocock had his streak snapped at 35 games ... Braedyn Pruitt extended his hit streak to 15 games ... A Melching Field crowd of 1615 waited through a 25 minute weather delay at the start of the game.
