Box Score Tampa, Fla. ? Ian Thompson (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and the Hatters ended up on the short end of a pitching dual Wednesday night in Tampa and fell 2-1 to the USF Bulls in two hours and 20 minutes. Thompson threw 6 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and two runs while striking out four batters. His record fell to 0-3 on the season. Nick Bohne (Melbourne, Fla.) pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief surrendering no runs and striking one.
The Hatters opened the scoring with a run in the top of the 1st inning. Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.) led off with a single to right-center. Josh Davis (Chambersburg, Pa.) followed with an infield single moving Simpson to second base. Casey Frawley (New Haven, Ct.) grounded out to second base moving Simpson to third and then Justin Bass (DeLand, Fla.) picked up the RBI on a groundout to shortstop.
The Bulls answered with their own run in the bottom half of the inning. Ryan Lockwood (Tampa, Fla.) laced a two-out single and then scored on an RBI double to left-center field by Brian Hobbs (Hurlock, Md.).
The game turned into a pitching dual until the bottom of the 6th inning when USF took a 2-1 lead. Lockwood singled through the right side of the infield, stole second base and advanced to third when Clendenin's throw sailed into center field. Lockwood ended up scoring on what turned out to be an infield single by Chris Rey (Miami, Fla.). On the groundball to Bass at first base, Rey reached before Thompson could get to the bag.
Offensively five Hatters came up with one hit each, while Bass knocked in the only Stetson run on a ground out.
Stetson is now 17-25 overall while USF boosted its mark to 21-19. The Hatters now return home for an 11-game home stand beginning with a weekend A-Sun series vs. Jacksonville. The teams will face off in a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. and a single game Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Hatters fans can see all the action on Hatter Vision with play-by-play provided by the voice of Stetson baseball Bill Topping. They can also follow the games on GameWatcher by going to www.gohatters.com and clicking on “Live Stats”.
