Miami, Fla. – Senior Josh Thorne had a feeling going into Tuesday night's game at Florida International that he was going to get a chance to pitch, he just didn't expect that opportunity to come as early or last as long as it did.

Thorne (1-0), who is accustomed to pitching an inning at a time in his relief appearances, worked 3.1 innings in relief of starter Adam Schaly, blanking FIU during those frame while the Stetson offense came to life, producing an 8-5 Stetson win at FIU Stadium.

The Hatters improved to 7-6 on the season with the win while the Panthers fell to 5-9.

“That was one of my longest ever outings,” Thorne said. “I thought Schaly would go longer than he did, but I had a feeling I would be going in.”

Thorne's outing was his longest since exactly two seasons ago, against Siena on March 8, 2014. His five strikeouts also tied a career-high, also set in that game against the Saints two years ago. Thorne said he just focused on getting ahead of the FIU hitters.

“I was getting ahead and letting the defense work,” Thorne said. “I was trying to pitch to contact and let the guys behind me do their work. The slider was good for me tonight, it was certainly my out pitch.”

On a night when the two teams combined to send 10 pitchers to the mound, the Hatters were able to put runs up against each of the first four for FIU, with the final run scoring with the fifth on the mound.

“We swung it pretty well tonight,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “I am still disappointed in the called third strikes and I didn't think our bat discipline was as good as it needed to be. We got ourselves out on a lot of high pitches, but we did manage to get double-digit hits. I don't want to be too greedy but we'll take it one step at a time. We came in here and did what we need to do against a good club.”

The Hatters took advantage of the first two, of four, FIU errors in the second inning to score three runs off starter Frank Chacon. Vance Vizcaino, Jack Machonis and Colton Lightner each drove in a run in the inning.

That lead didn't last long. The Panthers came right back with four runs off Schaly in the bottom of the second. The inning started when Nick Day homered and included a two-run single by Ray Perez and a ground ball to third that put FIU up 4-3.

That would be it for the FIU offense until scoring a run in the eighth inning.

The Hatters regained the lead in the fourth on a two-run double by Matt Morales off FIU's Willy Fabra (0-1). It was the second of three hits in the game for Morales, who also singled in a run in the sixth and then scored himself. The offense made up for two errors in the game.

“That is a freshman,” Dunn said. “He is going to make some mistakes, but he made up for them with the bat tonight. As time goes by and he settles in, he will keep getting better and more comfortable. He is out there as a freshman playing a very demanding position at shortstop. We moved him up to the two hole tonight and he did a really nice job.”

Morales' third hit, off Chris Coipel in the sixth, drove in Cory Reid. He later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Koos.

The Hatters scored their final run in the eighth inning after Machonis got a two-out single off Robert Garcia. Dominic LoBrutto came on to get the final out, but surrendered consecutive hits to Austin Hale and Lightner to score the run.

Both Morales and Lightner had three hits in the game as the Hatters combined for 13 hits in the game. Machonis and Hale also had two hits each in the game.

FIU was led by Perez with three hits and three RBI in the game.

“I thought we had a very well-pitched game,” Dunn said. “Schaly gave up some runs early, but settled down. I thought Joey Gonzalez did a great job. Thorne obviously did a great job and then Walker Sheller came in and got the save.”

The only negative for the Hatters on the night happened before the game when sophomore Charlie Watters, who was scheduled to be in the lineup at third base, took a ball to the eye during batting practice, forcing him to be scratched from the lineup.

“We were going to give Charlie a shot in a start tonight but, unfortunately, he got a bad hop during battling practice and took one in the eye,” Dunn said. “He had too much swelling to play. I feel bad for him that he didn't get to start, but Jack stepped in at the last minute and did what he needed to do.”

The Hatters won't take much time to enjoy the win because they will be right back in action on Wednesday night, this time against the nationally-ranked Hurricanes of the University of Miami.

“I congratulated them on the win, but I told them that if they are going to go in there tomorrow and beat a nationally-ranked team, they have to do a better job,” Dunn said. “We have to cut down on the called third strikes, especially with men in scoring position. We have to stop swinging at bad pitches out of the zone. Those are the things that, in order to beat Miami, we have to eliminate.”

The Hatters and 'Canes are scheduled for a 6 p.m. start at Mark Light Stadium. Freshman Erik Wiebke (1-1) will make his second start on the mound for Stetson against Miami redshirt freshman right-hander Keven Pimentel (0-0).

“It will be a great atmosphere and a noisy crowd down there tomorrow,” Dunn said. “We have to do a better job of taking advantage of pitchers when they are wild and we have to quit putting the bat on our shoulders with two strikes. We'll get it right. I just hope it is sooner rather than later.”