After a rough start to the 2015 baseball season, the Stetson Hatters could have easily hung their heads on Sunday when a 3-1 lead disappeared with one swing of the bat.

Instead, the Hatters bounced right back, tied the game on a home run by Patrick Mazeika, and went on to take a 7-4 victory over LaSalle to salvage the final game of the weekend series with the Explorers.

It was Mazeika again, in the seventh inning, who had the big hit, delivering a seeing eye single through the right side of the infield with the bases loaded to score two runs and put the Hatters on top to stay.

“You never know because our psyche is a little fragile after the first two games,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “We were able to take a lead and have the emotion up high, but then had it all taken away with one swing. I thought our kids reacted well and got out of that tough situation right after that.”

Mazeika's home run, which came with one out in the sixth with the Hatters trailing 4-3, gave the entire team a shot of adrenaline.

“It was pretty emotional because we were looking for a spark like that,” Dunn said. “Then he got the big base hit later on through the infield. I keep saying it, and we all still feel this way, we are going to be a decent offensive team. When we start hitting on all cylinders, we are going to score some runs.”

Mazeika, who was hitless in his first nine at bats of the season, said both of his big hits on Sunday were the result of better timing at the plate.

“It feels good to finally get that off my chest because I was getting pretty stressed out and was pressing a little bit,” Mazeika said. “I finally got a good pitch to hit in a big situation and it feels pretty good. It was inside and I was on time for once. My timing has been off, but I was on time and got all of it.”

While Mazeika's late-inning heroics didn't give him a win, the star of the game, at least early, was junior starting pitcher Ben Rakus. Even though he was not anticipating getting a start during the first weekend of the season, Rakus delivered 5.1 strong innings of work on the mound.

“He took the ball today when our backs were against the wall and pitched a really nice game,” Dunn said. “He gave us what we had to have today. We are down some arms right now and he stepped into a start that he wasn't scheduled for and kept us right there. He has a cutter that he throws that he feels good about.”

The Hatters took their first lead of the season in the third inning when senior Tyler Bocock hit a wall-scraper out to left field off LaSalle starter Freddy Andujar. The Hatters then manufactured a couple of runs in the fifth inning. Vance Vizcaino led off the frame by beating out an infield roller to first and advancing to second on a throwing error by Andujar.

Bocock was then hit by a pitch, allowing Colton Lightner a chance to put down a sacrifice bunt. All three Hatters were safe on the play when Andujar's throw to third was too late to get Vizcaino.

The Hatters score the two runs on a ground ball to second by Kevin Fagan and a sacrifice fly to left by Jack Machonis to take a 3-0 lead.

“The word I would use, even though we only had six hits, is that we were efficient,” Dunn said. “We got a sac fly, got hard contact to the second baseman where they couldn't turn two and got a run there.”

The only mistake Rakus made through his first five innings of work was a solo homer he allowed to Joey Ravert in the fifth that cut the Hatters' lead to 3-1. After getting the first Explorers hitter in the sixth, Rakus allowed a single to Justin Korenblatt and then hit Mark Williams before being lifted for Josh Thorne.

Thorne was welcomed to the game rudely by Cameron Johnson, who blasted the first pitch he saw for a three-run homer to give LaSalle a 4-3 lead.

Things didn't get any easier from there. Thorne allowed a single to Josh Savakinus before giving way to Brooks de Montluzin to face left-handed hitting Ravert. The result was a walk that put another runner in scoring position.

Walker Sheller, who took the loss in the opening game of the season after allowing an unearned run in the eighth inning, came on and got the Hatters out of the jam by getting a double-play grounder to end the frame.

Sheller (1-1) went on to work a quick seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts before giving up a leadoff single in the eighth and surrendering the mound to junior closer Tyler Warmoth.

“Sheller did a good job of getting us out of it and then, when he got into a little trouble in the eighth, Warmoth came in and did what we know he can do,” Dunn said. “Sheller operates on 100 percent all the time and he got out there (in the 8^th) before we could tell him that Warmoth was coming in. That is OK because he wanted to go out there.”

Warmoth was able to wriggle out of a jam in the inning and then struck out the side in the ninth to record his first save of the year.

“He has been great,” Mazeika said of Warmoth. “The last two years, you just expect him to get every save. I think he has blown one save ever and we picked him up. He just goes out there and gets the job done.”

Reliever Alex Faust (0-1) took the loss for LaSalle (2-1), who drew praise from Dunn.

“LaSalle has a very good club and they are going to be good in their conference,” Dunn said. “They put three arms out there that threw the ball well, they have really good defense with an outstanding catcher and they swing the bats. They have a good club and I know that we respect them after this weekend. They are going to compete for a conference championship in the A10.”

The Hatters (1-2) will continue to have their hands full this week. Stetson will host FIU on Wednesday night and the Panthers are fresh off taking two of three games from No. 25 Tennessee over the weekend. Then Central Michigan will visit Melching Field for a four-game weekend series after taking three of four games at Florida Gulf Coast this weekend.

“We have our hands full all week,” Dunn said. “Central Michigan beat Gulf Coast this weekend and we know them because we play them every year and we know that FIU has a very good club, so we will have our hands full. We will have our hands full all year, and that is the way it is supposed to be.

“We are not a club that is just going to show up and beat people. I don't know that there are any clubs like that out there, but we have to earn everything that we get. If we didn't know that before, we certainly know it after this weekend.”

The key for the Hatters will be getting a trio of pitchers – Ben Onyshko, Evin Lynch and Will Whitlock – who missed the opening weekend back from minor injuries.

Mazeika said the win should help the team go into the game on Wednesday with some confidence.

“We can take this on against FIU Wednesday,” Mazeika said. “It has been a tough weekend, but we have a good team. We are going to hit, pitch and play good defense. We are going to be fine.”

The first pitch on Wednesday is scheduled for 6 p.m.