Andrea Migliori hit her school-record 16th home run, a three-run blast in the top of the first inning, as Stetson eliminated Lipscomb by a 4-0 margin Thursday night at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship at Patricia Wilson Field.
The Hatters (41-19) completed the first day of the tournament with a 2-0 mark and advanced to the winner's bracket semifinal vs. Gardner-Webb at 1 p.m. on Friday.
Erica Demers tossed a three-hit shutout with four strikeouts and did not allow a runner past second base.
"We had good pitching and good defense once again," Stetson coach Frank Griffin said. "Erica's ball had a lot of movement and she was locating it well."
Migliori wasted little time breaking the record. With Sherrel Fountain and Nicole Forbes aboard in the top of the first, the Hatter sophomore lined a 0-1 pitch from Christen Campbell over the right field fence to give Stetson a quick 3-0 lead. It was Migliori's second home run of the day and her third career postseason home run. And four days after having a two-home run performance against Bethune-Cookman washed out due to rain, Migliori officially surpassed Blake Hoorelbeke's school record of 15 home runs set in 2005.
"I am not even thinking about the record," Migliori said. "We still have a long way to go to win the tournament. It was very important to get the early lead in both games today to take the pressure off of our pitchers."
But the Hatters were not finished in the first inning as Blythe Golden belted a solo home run over the scoreboard in leftcenter field to extend the Hatter lead to 4-0. It was Golden's fourth home run of the season.
That was plenty of offense for Demers (18-5), who picked up her sixth consecutive victory. She allowed just three hits and one walk. The Bisons (25-28-1) threatened in the seventh with back-to-back hits, but Amy Peters threw out Abigail Craig trying to go from first to third for the second out.
"That was a key play in the game," Griffin said. "They had a rally going and made a mistake. It was a very good throw from our right fielder and a good tag by our third baseman."
Lipscomb had defeated the Hatters twice during the regular season, but Stetson led from start to finish on Thursday.
In the afternoon games, Courtney Quinn and Amanda Littlejohn each had two hits and two RBI as Campbell eliminated Mercer by a 6-3 score. Lauren Caviness picked up the complete game victory in the circle.
Next, Gardner-Webb scored five fifth-inning runs to defeat ETSU 7-4. Jessi Williams went 3-for-3 with two RBI to lead the Bulldogs.
Following the Stetson-Gardner-Webb match-up on Friday, ETSU will play Campbell in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. A second elimination game will follow at 6:00 p.m.
