It was no surprise to anyone in attendance at Friday's series opening game between Stetson and The Citadel at Melching Field that the teams were in a pitcher's dual.

Neither team has shown a ton of offense this season, and both had their ace hurlers on the mound, but it was a big swing by Stetson senior Cory Reid that lifted the Hatters past the Bulldogs for a 3-1 victory.

The Hatters evened their season record at 13-13 with the win while The Citadel fell to 12-15 on the year with the loss.

“It was a big win for us,” Stetson coach Pete Dunn said. “We played horribly last weekend and then weren't able to get a game in on Tuesday. I believe not playing Tuesday might have helped a little.”

Both starting pitchers in the game – Stetson's Mitchell Jordan (3-3) and the Bulldogs' JP Sears (4-2) had things going their way through the early innings. The Citadel took a 1-0 lead in the second on a solo home run by Ben Peden, but the Hatters got that run back in the third on a two-out RBI single by Matt Morales to score Jacob Koos.

Things changed in the sixth inning for both pitchers. Jordan opened the top of the inning by allowing a walk, and then after a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, used an intentional walk to put two on base. He battled through his encounter with The Citadel's third baseman, Bret Hines, before getting a strikeout to end the frame.

“Mitchell got the big strikeout when he needed it in the sixth inning,” Dunn said. “He pitched well. He was one hitter away from coming out there in the sixth, but got the third out to get out of it and then we scored him two runs to get him the W. He gave us a quality start and got the W.”

The two runs in the bottom of the inning off Sears, who struck out 19 in his last outing last weekend, came on one big swing from Cory Reid. His home run, just to the left and over the scoreboard, was all the cushion the Stetson bullpen needed. The home run was Reid's third of the year.

“The home run from Reid was long over due,” Dunn said. “We have been waiting to see that, because he has that kind of power. That was a good pitcher we beat tonight. The team batting average against him was .187 coming in, but we did what we had to do.”

Once the Hatters got on top, the combination of senior Josh Thorne and junior closer Walker Sheller shut down any hope of a comeback for the Bulldogs. Thorne worked on both sides of an almost one hour rain delay in the top of the seventh before giving the ball to Sheller.

“Thorny came in and did a great job and then Walker closed it out,” Dunn said. “Sheller hadn't thrown in a while. We felt that we could extend him tonight, that he could throw two innings today, then throw tomorrow and Sunday just because he hasn't thrown. Thorne could have gone back out there because he did a great job, but we wanted to get Sheller into the game.

“Both of them are in good shape to come back tomorrow.”

For Sheller, who retired all six batters he faced with three strikeouts, the save was his seventh of the year.

The only negative in the game for Stetson was the Hatters inability to get a bunt down to move runners over. No fewer than four times Stetson hitters went to the plate to get down a sacrifice bunt and failed to deliver.

“If we are going to improve, we have to improve our bunting,” Dunn said. “Everyone in the lineup should be able to bunt, and that is very concerning. When you aren't scoring a ton or runs, you have to be able to play the short game. You have to get a run here and run there and hope your pitching shuts them down. Our pitchers can shut them down, but they can't shut them out in every game.”

Overall, the Hatters finished with eight hits in the game, including a pair from Vance Vizcaino, who scored on the Reid home run. Jack Machonis and Austin Hale both had doubles in the game but were left stranded on base.

Peden had two of the five hits in the game for The Citadel.

The Hatters and Bulldogs will get back to work early on Saturday, weather permitting. The second game of the weekend series was originally scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, but with a forecast of rain and thunderstorms all afternoon, the game has been moved up to an 11 a.m. start time.