Every time the struggling Stetson offense had a chance to put runs on the board on Saturday afternoon, visiting Creighton made a pitch to get out of trouble. The result was a 4-1 loss for the Hatters in the second game of the weekend series.

Stetson (3-4) will try to salvage the final game of the weekend from the Bluejays (2-3) on Sunday. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

“You don't always win when you give up four runs, and we only gave up two earned runs,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “They did what they had to do. We got into some situations and they were able to turn double plays. We don't have the offense right now where we can just pound out a bunch of runs and get over some of that.”

Stetson had Creighton starting pitcher Matt Warren (1-1) on the ropes in the very first inning. The Hatters got consecutive hits from Jack Machonis, John Fussell and Will Mackenzie to plate a run, and were threatening to add more. The inning was snuffed out as quickly as it started when Kevin Fagan's line drive toward center was caught by shortstop Nicky Lopez and turns into an inning-ending double play.

“That is baseball,” Dunn said. “We had a chance to put a crooked number up in the first inning. We tell our guys that you can't steer it, you just have to hit it hard. We did that, but we it turned into a double play.”

That first inning was an omen of things to come. The Hatters also hit into double plays in the fifth and ninth innings, the last one coming with the bases loaded to end the game.

“The double plays certainly contributed,” Dunn said. “Creighton has an outstanding defensive team and they thrive on their defense. Evidently, their pitchers are very good at getting a ground ball when they need it. You have to fight your way through that and we haven't proven that we can do that yet.”

While the Bluejays continued to showcase a sparkling defense, it was a mistake on defense that cost the Hatters in the fourth inning. After Creighton put runners on the corners with no one out off Stetson starter Brooks Wilson (1-1), the sophomore got a strikeout to give himself a chance to get out of the inning.

Creighton, which lives and dies on manufacturing runs, tried a safety squeeze play to get the runner home from third. The bunt from Harrison Crawford went right to Wilson, who was able to freeze Reagan Fowler at third base, his throw to first, however, was errant, loading the bases.

“They tried a safety squeeze and the runner at third didn't go,” Dunn said. “We had the second out with time, but rushed and threw it away. The next guy hit a sacrifice fly, which, if we had done the little things, would have been the third out. We have zero room for error right now and when you mistake like that it ends up being the deciding run in the game.”

Following Michael Emodi's game-tying sacrifice fly, Kevin Connolly singled home the go-ahead run. Both runs were unearned in the inning.

The Bluejays strung together four hits in the fifth inning, plating two more runs.

“They hit and run, they bunt and when they get a runner to third base with less than two out, they have proven to me that they can do what it takes to get him in,” Dunn said.

Wilson allowed 11 hits in his five innings of work, surrendered the four runs, just two of which were earned. He didn't walk anyone and struck out five.

Freshman Erik Wiebke pitched the final four innings, allowing just one hit and walking three with three strikeouts.

“We keep saying that our four freshmen are awfully talented,” Dunn said. “Right now we have to find bright spots, and those guys are bright spots, but we have to find a way to score some runs. We have to put hits together. We haven't shown that we are the best defensive team in the world, and there is no room for error there.”

The Hatters lone big scoring opportunity after the first inning came in the ninth when Fussell and Mackenzie again delivered one out singles. Jorge Flores then pinch hit and drew a walk from reliever Nick Highberger. Creighton went to the pen with the bases loaded and one out and junior side-winder David Gerber went to a full count on Austin Hale before getting a ground ball to short for a game-ending double play.

The save was Gerber's first of the year.

“It is really disappointing because I don't know how we can go from being the team we were in the fall and early spring to where we are right now,” Dunn said. “It looks like someone spiked our drinks.”

The Hatters will look to one of those talented freshmen, right-hander Jack Perkins, to try to get a win out of the series on Sunday. Perkins will be trying to bounce back from a less than stellar debut outing last weekend against Delaware.