Box Score
Johnson City, Tenn. ? A trio of Stetson freshmen led the Hatters to a 6-4 victory in the first game of an important A-Sun series at East Tennessee State on Thursday night. Sean Emory (Miami, Fla.) and Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.) each had two RBI, and Will Dorsey (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) picked up the win in relief to run his record to 2-1 on the season. The Hatters are now one win away from clinching a berth in next week's Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
Stetson opened the scoring with a run in the top of the 1st inning. With one out Casey Frawley (New Haven, Ct.) singled up the middle. With two outs Justin Bass (DeLand, Fla.) blasted a double to centerfield scoring Frawley from first.
The Buccaneers responded with two runs in the 1st inning and a single run in the 2nd.
In the top of the 3rd Stetson catcher Josh Clendenin (Atlanta, Ga.) led off the inning with a single that sailed over the second baseman and into right field. Freshman Sean Emory (Miami, Fla.) then stepped up to the plate and tied the game with one swing. He hit a towering shot to right field that cleared the berm and the wall. Cardinal Park has an unusual design feature. There is a grass berm that runs from the right field line to centerfield. Sitting on top of the 15-ft high berm is a wall of equal height. Emory cleared both with room to spare.
ETSU moved back into the lead (4-3) with a run in the bottom of the 4th inning.
The Hatters evened things up once again in the 7th inning. Frank Florio (Long Valley, NJ) reached first base on a lead off walk and then gave way to Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.) who entered as a pinch runner. With one out Clendenin was hit by a pitch moving Simpson to second. Simpson ended up making it all the way home on a throwing error by the shortstop to tie the score 4-4.
Stetson's killer blow occurred in the 8th inning. Bass led off with a single through the left side. Robert Crews (Port Charlotte, Fla.) reached first and advanced to second on an error by the right fielder. Bass moved to third on the play. Simpson followed with a clutch single that split the first and second basemen and scored both runners for the 6-4 final.
With the win Stetson raised its record to 23-31 overall and 13-18 in A-Sun play. ETSU is now 18-36 overall and 9-22 in conference. Stetson will return to the Field tomorrow for the second game in the season-ending series. Hatters fans can hear all the action on Hatter Vision Audio 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”.
