DeLand, Fla. - The Stetson baseball team dropped its first game of the season 6-0 to the University of Maine Monday night at Melching Field. The Black Bears won their first game of the season and are now 1-5 and the Hatters fell to 5-1.
Maine starter Keith Bilodeau (Bourne, Mass.) pitched a gem for the visitors keeping the Hatters off balance for most of the night and improving to 1-0 on the season. He tossed eight shutout innings allowing just four hits and striking out 10 batters.
Stetson starter Will Dorsey (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) took the loss and fell to 1-1 on the season. He threw the first 1.2 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits. The Stetson bullpen did an admirable job allowing two runs in the final 7.1 innings to keep the home team in the game, yet the offense just couldn't seem to get started.
Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.) picked up a pair of hits with Ben Carhart (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.), Nick Rickles (Loxahatchee, Fla.), and Mitchel Brennan (Orlando, Fla.) each coming up with a base hit of their own.
Maine jumped out early with four runs in the 2nd inning. The Black Bears had 17 hits in the game with 16 of them being singles and one a double.
With Stetson's 3-1 win on Sunday the season series is now even at 1-1.
The Hatters will host the Maine in the rubber game on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. on Melching Field. Stetson fans can see the games on Hatter Vision at GoHatters.com with Bill Topping calling the action. Tickets are available at the gate or can be purchased online at GoHatters.com or by calling 738-HATS.
