Two pitches made all the difference for the Stetson Hatters on Sunday afternoon in the series finale against Creighton at Melching Field.

Those two pitches, both on 0-2 counts, directly resulted in the visiting Bluejays scoring four of their seven runs in a 7-5 victory over Stetson to complete a weekend sweep.

The Hatters fall to 3-5 on the year while Creighton improved to 3-3. It is the second year in a row that Creighton has swept Stetson in a series.

“If you look at it, we gave up five runs because of 0-2 pitches,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “They scored four because of contact and we let another runner get to third base to where we had to pull the infield in. We scored five runs, and we gave them all away. We started that inning by dropping a fly ball in the outfield. We are just inventing ways to lose right now.”

The game was tied at 1-1 going to the fifth with Stetson freshman Jack Perkins and Creighton sophomore Keith Rogalla in a pitching battle. Perkins entered the inning having retired nine of 10 hitters since allowing a two-out RBI single to Harrison Crawford in the first inning.

But things started going sideways right from the start in the fifth. Creighton DH Matt Gandy his a fly ball to deep left to start the frame, but Jacob Koos appeared to have a beat on it. Koos was, however, unable to make the catch, resulting in a two-base error. Perkins then hit Riley Landuyt on an 0-2 pitch.

After getting a strikeout, Daniel Woodrow beat out a high-chopper to second base to load the bags. With Nicky Lopez at the plate, Perkins jumped out to a quick 0-2 count, but on his third offering Lopez ripped a ball into the left-center gap, scoring three runs. Ryan Fitzgerald followed with and RBI single to make it 5-1.

“The 0-2 is inexcusable,” Dunn said. “I thought he learned from his first outing that he can't throw strikes on 0-2. He is an intelligent kid who has to learn to bury the ball in the dirt and trust his catcher to block it. But, he went right back out there and did it again and it is going to get you beat every time on this level.”

The Hatters, who had just one hit off Rogalla, albeit a solo home run from Will Mackenzie in the second, went right to work in the bottom of the inning to get two of the runs back. Kevin Fagan led off the inning with a double down the line in left and Vance Vizcaino followed with a single before stealing second.

After Matt Morales lined out to third, Colton Lightner delivered an RBI single to plate Fagan before Koos hit a sinking liner to left that Landuyt caught off his shoe top. Vizcaino tagged and scored on the play to make it 5-3.

That was where things stayed until the eighth inning when Stetson scored two runs, without the benefit of a hit, to knot the score at 5-5. Lightner reached when he struck out on a pitch from Jeff Albrecht that got away from catcher Keith Oren. Koos then reached on an error at third base. A sacrifice bunt was followed by a chopper to the mound from John Fussell, allowing Lightner to sprint home ahead of the throw. Mackenzie's sacrifice fly tied the score.

For the Hatters, the high of tying the game didn't last. Stetson closer Walker Sheller opened the ninth by walking Will Bamesberger. After getting a strikeout, he hit Kevin Connolly with a pitch before getting ahead 0-2 on pinch hitter Brennan Hammer. The 0-2 bug struck again on the next pitch when Hammer ripped a ball into left to score the go-ahead run.

Connolly raced around to third on the play and then scored when Woodrow's chopper to second base left Jack Machonis unable to make a play at the plate.

“We came back and tied it, which was a high point, but we went right back out and gave two away,” Dunn said. “We were having to play catch up all day because of bad pitching. That team proved to us that they are great two-strike hitters. They battled, fouled pitches off and every time we'd throw a strike on 0-2 they pounded it. We are slow learners.”

The Hatters were able to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but Creighton closer David Gerber earned his second save of the weekend by recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

Reliever Sam Norman (1-0) earned the win for Creighton while Sheller (0-1) took the loss. Lopez and Fitzgerald led the Bluejays with two hits each while Vizcaino accounted for two of the Hatters' five hits in the game.

“The bottom line is that we are playing the highest level of college baseball that there is, Division I baseball,” Dunn said.  “We've shown that if we don't make routine plays and we don't pitch better when we have hitters in a hole, and if we don't get better offensively, it is going to be a long year. I hate to say that, but that is the bottom line.

“We had better fix some things, and fix them fast because we can't keep losing ground and making the hole deeper.”

The Hatters will go on the road for the first time on Wednesday night when they travel across Volusia County to face Bethune-Cookman. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start time at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.