Stetson coach Pete Dunn preaches to his players to always stay ready in the dugout, because you never know when your time will come to get a big hit.

That time came in the ninth inning on Sunday as the Hatters got three pinch-hit singles to tie the series finale against Winthrop, and then a sacrifice fly to walk-off with a 5-4 series clinching victory over the visiting Eagles.

The Hatters improved to 12-9 on the season with the win while dropping Winthrop to 11-9.

“That is two of those in a week,” Dunn said, referring to a 7-6 come-from-behind win over Maine last Sunday. “I feel even more gratified because it was against such a good club and because of the way that we turned it around. We couldn't get anything going, we didn't play good defense, we didn't pitch extremely well, they were just barreling up balls all over the park, but we kept them from running away with it.

“We got a run back here and a run back there and we gave ourselves an opportunity. We had a chance to tie and win in the ninth and today we were able to get it done.”

The Hatters got it done against Winthrop closer Zach Cook (0-2) by sending up consecutive pinch hitters in the ninth. Since the Eagles opened the game with left-hander Thad Harris on the mound, there was an abundance of left-handed hitters available on the bench.

Senior John Fussell opened the inning with a single to left-center. Will Mackenzie followed with a single to right center before Kevin Fagan ripped a single down the line in right to score pinch-runner Dominic Baldino with the tying run.

After Austin Hale delivered a sacrifice bunt to move runners up to second and third, Jacob Koos was walked intentionally to lead the bases for freshman Matt Morales.

For Morales, it had not been the best of weekends. The Stetson shortstop was three-for-10 at the plate in the series, but had also committed four errors, including two on Sunday with an 0-for-4 at the plate. When he went to the plate in the ninth, he had a chance to erase all of that.

“He had a bad day, but you want guys to keep their head up and redeem themselves,” Dunn said. “I told him that he was going to get a good pitch to hit because they couldn't pitch around him. They couldn't throw balls in the dirt to make him chase, so I told him to not get too aggressive and chase something out of the zone.

“I knew he would get a good pitch to hit, and told him to barrel the ball up. When it got to a full count, their guy had to throw a fastball and he hit it deep enough for us.”

Morales said he put all of the negative from the game out of his mind when he went to the plate in the ninth.

“It was tough game, but I knew I had to concentrate there at the end and do what the team needed,” Morales said. “In that situation, I was trying to hit a ground ball up the middle or get a fly ball. I would have taken a walk, but I knew I couldn't strikeout. I had to put the ball in play. It ended up working out for our team and was a great win.”

Before hitting the fly ball that scored pinch runner Dean Garabedian with the winning run, Morales took a swing at a 3-1 fastball.

“He threw me a fastball away on the 3-1,” Morales said. “It was a good pitch for him. I could have taken it and it would have been close. The 3-2 was a fastball on the corner and I just hit an average it fly ball to left.”

Anthony Paulsen caught the fly ball from Morales in good position to make a strong throw home. Garabedian said he knew when it left the bat that he was going to score.

“I played football back in the day, and I was able to run pretty fast to get away from some big guys, but that was the fastest I ever ran,” Garabedian said. “I knew there was no shot for them to throw me out. I was going to make it for the rest of the guys.”

His dive across the plate ahead of the throw to Winthrop catcher Roger Gonzalez set of an instant celebration on the field.

“We were up in the dugout going into the ninth,” Garabedian said. “We knew who we had coming up, and we knew we were going to win the game. This is one of the best moments we have had, and I think this is going to get us on the right track. We needed this type of win.”

To get the Hatters in position for the ninth inning heroics, the Stetson bullpen had to put a lid on the hot-hitting Winthrop lineup. The Eagles scored three runs, only two of which were earned, off freshman starter Erik Wiebke in the first three innings. Senior Adam Schaly then came on to keep the Eagles at bay into the fifth inning before turning the game over to another freshman, Jack Perkins.

Normally the Sunday starter, Perkins made his first relief appearance of the year and worked 3.1 innings, allowing just two hits. While he was on the mound, the Hatters started chipping away.

“That was an outstanding effort from Jack out of the pen,” Dunn said. It was his first outing in that role and held them right where they were. He was a big reason we were able to come back because he held them at four runs.”

The Hatters managed single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings off Harris, who surrendered those three runs on eight hits over eight innings of work. He did not walk anyone and struck out seven.

Stetson broke through in the fifth when Charlie Watters delivered a one-out double and then scored on a single by Hale. After Winthop got that run back in the sixth thanks to the second Morales error, the Hatters answered again when Cory Reid blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the inning. It was his second of the year.

The Hatters closed to within 4-3 in the seventh when Colton Lightner singled and then scored on a double by Hale.

The heroics in the final inning could have been for nothing if not for the work of the Stetson bullpen. Winthrop's Tyler Asbill opened the top of the ninth with a single off Tyler Keller. Josh Thorne then came in and was able to get an out despite slipping while fielding a sacrifice bunt.

After intentionally walking Paulsen, Stetson turned to closer Walker Sheller (1-1) to get out of the jam. He did just that, throwing only one pitch to Gonzalez, the Eagles' best hitter.

“Sheller came in and got the one-pitch double play, and that is what I told the team when I handed him the ball,” Dunn said. “I told them to be ready because he was going to get the ground ball. He got what he needed and we turned it.”

For the Hatters, the win could be a turning point, but for Dunn it held no special meaning, even though Winthrop is coached by former Stetson player and coach Tom Riginos, who is assisted by another former Hatter, Clint Chrysler.

“It was a great win and I am really happy for the players,” Dunn said.“There is no special meaning to me, but I think the world of those two guys over there. Those are two guys that I recruited to come here and play ball. Those two were in on building the Stetson program.

“TR helped get us into the NCAA Tournament early on and Chrysler was such a good player. I don't take any extra satisfaction in beating them, but I take great satisfaction in the fact that we beat a really good club two out of three. They have a good club and will do very well this year.”

What Dunn wants to see is his team take the momentum from the victory and build on it.

“We have to get some momentum going,” Dunn said. “We did a great job last weekend and won a game similar to this against Maine, but then we stunk it up on Tuesday. I hope they learned a lesson from that because we have a Dartmouth team coming in this Tuesday, and if we don't play any better than we did last Tuesday it will be the same result.”

The Hatters will close an eight-game home stand against the Big Green (2-9) that is in the middle of a two week stay in Florida.

“We are going to enjoy this one, but I want them to build on this and not have a let down,” Dunn said. “You can't always do this and come back when you are down in the ninth inning. We have to learn from the things we did well today and from the bad things we did last Tuesday and the things we did that have gotten us in a hole.”

Tuesday's game at Melching Field is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. For tickets, contact the Stetson Athletics Ticket Office at 386-738-HATS or visit GoHatters.com/tix.