Jacksonville, Fla. – John Fussell gave the Stetson Hatters a spark in the ninth inning of the first game on Sunday at Sessions Stadium, blasting a three-run homer to left Stetson to an 8-5 victory over Jacksonville.
The second game was all about defensive lapses by the Hatters, which allowed JU to jump out to an early lead and then cruise to a 10-2 victory to avoid the sweep.
Stetson is now 23-22 overall on the year but, more importantly, 8-4 in the Atlantic Sun Conference and tied with North Florida for first place. JU is now 19-23 overall and 5-7 in league play.
“It is disappointing that we let that second game get away but, as I told the guys, I don't want the disappointment of that loss to take away from the fact that we won two of three on the road,” Stetson coach Pete Dunn said. “Obviously, that is what we are always trying to do, especially on the road.”
Game 1 – Stetson 8, Jacksonville 5
Stetson got the scoring started early in the opening game, getting consecutive hits from Vance Vizcaino and Cory Reid off JU starter Spencer Stockton. A ground ball by Patrick Mazeika moved both runners up and then John Fussell followed with a ground ball to score Vizcaino.
After Josh Powers worked his way on base with a walk, Stockton was called for balk, allowing Reid to score from third.
The Hatters added another run in the third when Vizcaino and Reid again opened play with consecutive hits. This time it was Mazeika who plated the run with a ground out.
The Dolphins got on the board against Stetson starter Brooks Wilson with three consecutive two-out hits. Parker Perez reached on an infield single and then moved up to third on a bloop single to right by Drew Luther. Angelo Amendolare followed with a solid single through the left side to put JU on the board.
JU rallied to score three more runs in the fifth inning to knock Wilson out of the game. J.J. Gould led off with a double down the line in right. Garrett Ruckel followed with a single to short before a sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. Drew Luther delivered a fly ball to plate the first run and then Amendolare singled up the middle to plate Ruckel, tying the game.
The inning continued when Connor Marabell singled sharply through the right side, ending the day for Wilson. Josh Thorne came on in relief and got a ground ball to short, but Josh Powers dropped the ball without making a throw, allowing Amendolare to score the go-ahead run on the play.
The Dolphins pushed their lead to 5-3 in the seventh inning, taking advantage of another Stetson error. Dylan Dillard led off the inning with a single down the left field line off Thorne. He broke for second on a steal attempt, but Thorne stepped off, and threw to Jack Machonis at the bag, but Machonis dropped the ball.
After a pitching change, Dillard stole third off Ben Onyshko and then scored when Drew Luther singled down the line in left off Frankie Romano.
Stetson battled back to tie the game in the seventh inning, chasing Spencer. Will Mackenzie led off the inning with a hit and, after Spencer retired the next two, Vizcaino delivered his third hit of the game before Reid plated both runners with a hit through the left side off reliver Greg Shennahan.
That is where the game stayed until the ninth when Vizcaino led off with a double to the gap in right center off Justin Russell (2-7). After Reid delivered a sacrifice bunt and Mazeika was walked intentionally, Fussell delivered the big blow of the game, a three-run shot to right field.
“He got a breaking ball,” Dunn said. “They had been throwing our left-handers a lot of off-speed stuff and he got a breaking ball, went down and got it and lifted it out. That was huge.
“They were up on us by two runs and we came back and tied it before Fussell had the big home run. The pitchers came in after Brooks and held them there. Not only did Fussell get the big hit, but we had other guys get on in front of him.”
Junior Tyler Warmoth closed out the Dolphins in the ninth inning, picking up his eighth save of the year. Tyler Keller (1-1) got the win, retiring two of the three batters he faced.
Game 2 – Jacksonville 10, Stetson 2
The Hatters got off to a good start in the second game of the double-header when Cory Reid blasted a solo home run off JU starter Nathan Disch (2-2), but it was all Dolphins from there.
Jacksonville took advantage of multiple Stetson mistakes in the field, scoring a single run in the first to tie the game and then three more in the fourth to take a lead the Dolphins would never relinquish.
“Our defense certainly let us down in the second game,” Dunn said. “We gave them unearned runs, then the built on it because we couldn't throw strikes later in the game when we needed to. We had some opportunities to get back into the game, but they made a good pitch when they needed to.”
Sophomore Walker Sheller (2-7), who has been a hard-luck pitcher for Stetson all year, took the loss.
JU chased Sheller in the fifth, padding the lead to 5-1 when Marabel singled to open the frame, stole second, moved up on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Kozlowski.
Stetson got that run back in the sixth off Disch on a walk, a single by Garrett Russini and a wild pitch, but Shane Wise came out of the pen with two out and struck out Vizcaino to end the threat.
JU put the game away in the home half of the inning, scoring five runs off four Stetson pitchers. The big hits in the inning – a two run single by Gibson and RBI singles by Kozlowski and J.J. Gould, came off Stetson's Griffin Fuller.
Wise put the Hatters down in order in the seventh to get his first save of the year.
Vizcaino led Stetson with five hits on the day while Reid collected four. Mackenzie and Jack Machonis had two hits each on the first game, but we held hitless in the nightcap.
Amendolare led JU with five hits on the day, running his hit streak to 17 games. Parker Perez chipped in with four hits for the Dolphins.
The Hatters will be back at Melching Field on Tuesday night to open a five-game home stand with cross-county rival Bethune-Cookman. Following the game with the Wildcats, Stetson will entertain North Florida next weekend with first place in the A-Sun race on the line.
“I am not even looking to next weekend,” Dunn said. “We have a game with Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday and I can't start thinking about UNF now because every game is important for us. We have to gain some momentum and we have to do a better job on our mid-week games.
“I'll start thinking about North Florida on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. We have a very good Bethune-Cookman team coming to our place that we have to take care of business against.”
The first pitch on Tuesday night is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
