Daytona Beach, Fla. - After a long weekend of games that taxed the pitching staff the Stetson baseball team suffered a bit of mid-week blues Wednesday night and fell 10-2 to Bethune-Cookman in Daytona. The Hatters (10-2) called on six different pitchers to get them through the night and help the team prepare for its conference-opening series at Campbell this weekend.
The Wildcats (8-7) delivered 14 hits in the game and avenged their 4-3 extra inning loss to the Hatters earlier this season. Cookman jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and three more in the third. Starting pitcher Gabriel Hernandez threw five innings and picked up the win to go to 1-0 on the season.
Stetson scored a run in the fifth inning and another in the eighth. Mark Jones (Bunnell, Fla.) led off the fifth with a single through the left side, advance to second on a walk to Ryan Lashley (Lake Worth, Fla), reached third on a fielder's choice and then scored on an RBI ground ball by Robert Crews (Port Charlotte, Fla.). Stetson's run in the eighth inning started with a double down the left field line by Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.) and was finished by Ben Carhart (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) who ripped an RBI single up the middle.
Carhart went 2-for-4 on the night to lead Stetson's offense. Simpson, Jones, Sean Emory (Miami, Fla.) and Trey Blackman (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) each added a hit.
Freshman Jimmy O'Neill (Bradenton, Fla.) started a game against the Wildcats for the second time this season. He took the loss and fell to 0-1 after pitching two innings and allowing six hits, three earned runs and striking out two batters. Justin Dechert (Boynton Beach, Fla.) took the mound for the first time this season. He tossed two thirds of an inning, faced three batters and struck out two.
This weekend the Hatters will hit the road for their first conference action of the season. Stetson will play three games against Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C. Friday night the A-Sun foes will play a single game at 6:00 p.m. and then follow with a pair on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. Stetson fans can hear the games on Hatter Vision at GoHatters.com with Bill Topping calling the action.
