Box Score DeLand, Fla. ? Jeremy Cruz (Miami, Fla.) belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to get Stetson (26-27) to within a run, yet the home team could not make it all the way back and fell 5-4 to UCF (20-32). For Cruz it was his 17th home run, one shy of the team record with three games to play in the regular season.
The Cruz home run would have given the Hatters a 4-3 lead had it not been for an unfortunate error in centerfield in the top half of the eighth. With two outs and two runners on base UCF's Kiko Vazquez hit a towering, yet routine fly ball to right center that ended up dropping into play. Both runners were on the move, and both scored unearned runs. It was the third loss in three games with the Knights this season.
Bryan Brown (Winter Springs, Fla.) was the recipient of the win after tossing two scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth. It was the first win for the now 1-8 hurler. Travis Stortz (Safety Harbor, Fla.) took the loss and dropped to 0-2 after allowing two hits and one run in two thirds of an inning.
UCF scored the games first two runs in the top of the second off Stetson starting pitcher David Burns (Seminole, Fla.). Burns pitched four innings allowing five hits. The Hatters tied the score in the bottom of the third after Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.) singled and Casey Frawley (New Haven, Ct.) drew a walk. Simpson scored on a sacrifice fly by Cruz and Frawley reached home on an RBI single by Aaron Crittenden (Fort Myers, Fla.). Simpson led Stetson with two hits in the game and Crittenden extended his current hitting streak to 19 games.
Stetson will travel to Fort Myers this weekend to take on Florida Gulf Coast in the final conference series of the season. The teams will play Thursday and Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Stetson fans can hear all the games on Hatter Vision found at www.gohatters.com. The voice of Hatters baseball Bill Topping will call the action.
Next week Stetson will host the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Tournament at Melching Field May 20-23. Tickets can be purchased on line at gohatters.com or at the gate on game day.
