DeLand, Fla. - The #28 ranked Stetson baseball team's eight-game winning streak came to an end Sunday afternoon with a 14-6 loss to ETSU in the series finale at Melching Field. Stetson (20-5, 7-2 A-Sun) won the first two games of the weekend and was 4-1 on the week including Wednesday's 6-4 victory over #4 Florida State in Tallahassee. ETSU improved to 14-7 overall and 6-4 in conference play.
Three Hatters had three hits each in the game led by Ben Carhart (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) who was 2-for-5 with a double, two RBI and his 4th home run of the season. Robert Crews (Port Charlotte, Fla.) was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI and Mark Jones (Bunnell, Fla.) finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Catcher Nick Rickles (Loxahatchee, Fla.) had just one hit, a big two-run blast over the left field fence in the 3rd inning.
ETSU scored the majority of its runs early with four runs in the first inning off Stetson starter Tucker Donahue (Coral Springs, Fla.) and seven runs in the third off reliever Joe Dye (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.). Donahue tossed just one inning allowing the four runs. He walked two, struck out one, and took the loss falling to 0-2 on the season.
Down 11-1 Stetson showed some life with three runs in the bottom of the third highlighted by the Rickles home run, and narrowed the deficit to seven runs. The Buccaneers however, added single runs in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings to secure their only win of the series.
This coming week the Hatters will face UCF in a home-and-home series. Stetson will travel to Orlando on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. game that will be televised on BHSN. Wednesday they will play at Melching Field at 6:30 p.m. Stetson fans can hear the games on Hatter Vision at GoHatters.com with Bill Topping calling the action. Tickets for home games are available at the gate or can be purchased online at GoHatters.com or by calling 738-HATS.
