DeLand, Fla. - Stetson hosted Lipscomb (14-26, 5-8 Atlantic Sun) Friday night and came away with a 6-1 conference series-opening win for the fourth time in five tries. Once again the Hatters (21-19, 9-4) rallied behind starting pitcher Jacob deGrom who earned the victory and improved to 4-1 on the season.
"This was a great win and a very well pitched game", said Stetson head coach Pete Dunn. "That was really something to watch. I almost wish I was up in the stands watching that one. For fans who like good pitching, that was an awfully good game by deGrom."
deGrom came up just short of tossing a complete game. He had a shutout heading into the 9th inning, yet with two outs the pitch count caught up to him. deGrom threw 132 pitches over 8 2/3 innings on the mound. In the end he allowed one run on nine hits and struck out six batters.
"I would have loved to see him finish it but after the run in the 9th we had to go get him. We didn't want to push him anymore", said Dunn.
The offensive charge was led by catcher Nick Rickles (Loxahatchee, Fla.) who was 2-for-4 with a double, a pair of RBI and a run scored. Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.), Spencer Theisen (Longwood, Fla.), and Kurt Schluter (Jupiter, Fla.) also tallied two hits for the home team. Theisen and Mark Jones (Palm Coast, Fla.) each tripled in the game. For Jones, it was his conference-leading 6th three-bagger of the season.
Stetson opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the 4th inning. With one out Aaron Crittenden (Fort Myers, Fla.) and Theisen reached on back-to-back walks and then scored on Jones' triple deep down the right field line and into the corner. When the next batter, Rickles singled to right center, Jones trotted home and it was 3-0 Stetson.
The Hatters put the game away with two more runs in the 6th. With one out Theisen smashed a liner down the right field line and then hit overdrive on his way to third base. After a fly out to right that was not quite deep enough to turn into a sacrifice, Rickles stepped up and delivered an RBI double down the right field line. Rickles moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a Schluter single through the right side of the infield.
"We beat an awfully good ball club and certainly one of the top pitchers in the conference in Josh Smith", said Dunn.
Coming into the game Smith led the A-Sun with a 7-1 record and is #1 in strike outs with 80.
The weekend series with Lipscomb will continue Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Stetson fans can watch the games on Hatter Vision by going to www.gohatters.com. The voice of Stetson baseball Bill Topping will call the action.
