The Stetson Hatters put on their running shoes on Saturday, recording a season-high six stolen bases to take a 5-1 victory over visiting Maine, clinching a series win over the visiting Black Bears at Melching Field.

The Hatters (9-7) will go for the sweep on Sunday morning. The start time for the series finale has been pushed up to 11 a.m. in advance of rain showers that are expected to roll into the Deland area by mid-afternoon.

The Hatters managed just six hits on Saturday, but five of the six either drove in or led to a run.

“We were efficient today and, sometimes, that is what you are going to get,” Stetson head coach Pete Dunn said. “We got five runs on six hits, and that is pretty efficient. They didn't kick the ball around, so we didn't get a lot of help. We got some hits when we needed them.”

Some of the Hatters' offensive production in the game came as a direct result of their good base-running. Vance Vizcaino stole three bases in the game to go with two hits and scored a pair of runs. Jack Machonis also stole two bases, despite not getting a hit, and scored a run.

The biggest swing of the game for Stetson came off the bat of junior Colton Lightner, who blasted a two-out, two run homer off Maine starter John Arel (0-2) in the fourth inning, giving the Hatters a 4-0 lead.

“Colton had one big hit today, but it was a big one,” Dunn said. “It was a two-run game when he hit it and it was huge. We took advantage of their pitchers being slow to the plate and we ran some on them.”

The 4-0 lead was more than enough for the Hatters sophomore starting pitcher Brooks Wilson (2-2), who worked into the seventh inning, allowing one unearned run on four hits with five strikeouts. His only issue during the game was some early control problems.

“He works fast anyway, but I think he was really grabbing the ball in the first couple of innings and was getting behind,” Dunn said. “He needed to slow the game down a little bit. He is a battler and he did a great job. The bullpen again did a really nice job.”

After Brooks was lifted in the seventh, Tyler Keller, Josh Thorne and Walker Sheller combined to get strikeouts on five of the last seven outs of the game to finish off the Bears (4-10).

Maine's only run came in the sixth inning and was a result of the only Stetson error of the game. Danny Casals followed the fielding mistake with a double into the right field corner, scoring Brenden Geary from second.

Dunn said he can see signs of progress with his club.

“We hope so,” Dunn said. “Hopefully we are figuring things out. We still made some mistakes today, but they didn't hurt us. There are things we need to get better at. I am not worried about a sweep, but we haven't won three games in a row this year. That would be good for us.”

The Hatters will try to complete the sweep on Sunday when freshman right-hander Jack Perkins (0-0, 7.24) goes to the mound.

“He has gotten better in each of his last three starts,” Dunn said. “He threw really well last week and we hope that he will continue to improve. We like the right-handers against this team, but we may have to run some left-handers out there tomorrow if we get into the bullpen.”

Maine has not announced a starting pitcher for the series finale, but Dunn he expects the Black Bears to use their No. 1 pitcher, sophomore right-hander Justin Courtney (1-1, 1.00).

“I won't be surprised if we don't see their number one guy tomorrow,” Dunn said. “He beat Clemson and almost beat Miami, so he is legit. He threw on Tuesday, so he will have had four days of rest.”