DeLand, Fla. - The Stetson baseball team ran its record to 8-1 on the season with a 5-3 win over Illinois on day two of the 2011 Bright House Invitational at Melching Field. Junior Ben Carhart (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) led the way offensively for the second consecutive night. Against the Fighting Illini he was 3-for-4 with three RBI. Senior Sean Emory (Miami, Fla.) also contributed multiple hits going 2-for-4 with a triple and a pair of runs scored.
"That Carhart is clutch... I know one thing he is a professional hitter. You don't see him take many bad swings", said Stetson head coach Pete Dunn. "Sean did a very good job and scored a couple runs as well."
Stetson scored early with a run in the bottom of the 1st inning. With one out Emory tripled deep down the right field line and then crossed home plate on a single by Carhart to right center.
Illinois tied the score in the 3rd inning and then took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 6th on a solo home run by Willie Argo (Davenport, Iowa) off Stetson starter Will Dorsey (Atlantic Beach, Fla.). It was the first home run of the season for Illinois (3-5).
Dorsey gave the Hatters another quality start allowing one earned run and striking out a batter over six innings of work. Tucker Donahue (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Cameron Griffin (Naples, Fla.) combined for a scoreless 2/3 of an inning and then Robbie Powell struck out two batters over the final 2.1 innings and earned his 3rd save of the season.
"It was a great effort tonight. Dorsey moved up to take Caughel's spot. He didn't have his best stuff but he battled through it and pitched out of some jams early and again our bullpen came in and did what we needed them to do", said Dunn.
After the Illini took a lead in the top of the 6th the Hatters returned the favor with two runs in the bottom half of the inning giving Dorsey his second win of the season against one loss. Singles by Jeff Simpson (Valrico, Fla.), Emory and Carhart, combined with an error and a wild pitch put Stetson ahead to stay. The Hatters tallied single runs in the 7th and 8th innings to secure the victory.
In addition to the multiple hit efforts by Carhart and Emory, Simpson, Nick Rickles (Loxahatchee, Fla.), Spencer Theisen (Longwood, Fla.), and Robert Crews (Port Charlotte, Fla.) each had singles for the Hatters. Rickles and Theisen finished with one RBI each.
"We battled our way through it tonight. That's a good club over there. I think they're going to be pretty good in the Big 10", said Dunn.
"We are winning with guys that are scuffling right now. We have four key guys in our lineup that are struggling right now but we are finding ways to win. We are manufacturing some runs and we are being pretty efficient", he added.
At 8-1 Stetson is off to its best start since 2002 when it started the season 8-0 and eventually found itself in the NCAA Regionals.
The Bright House Invitational will conclude Sunday with Illinois playing Columbia at 10:00 a.m. and then Stetson taking on Central Michigan at 4:00 p.m. 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.
