After a long and most unoffensive road trip, the Stetson Hatters' bats came to life upon their return to Melching Field on Saturday, banging out 23 hits in a double-header sweep of USC Upstate.

The Hatters (19-20, 3-5) took the opening game 9-3 before taking a 9-5 victory over the Spartans (18-22, 1-9) in the second game. Stetson will try to complete the series sweep on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The 18 runs in the double-header tied for the most in any two-game stretch all year. It was the third sweep of a double-header for Stetson in the last two seasons.

“Right now we aren't worried about style points, we are just worried about getting W's,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “The second game certainly wasn't pretty because we had the lead, but we went out and kicked the ball around to let them get back in the game.

“Every time, or almost every time, they scored in either game, we were able to come back and answer quickly to take the momentum back away from them. We kept scoring to keep that three or four run cushion.”

Game 1: Stetson 9, USC Upstate 3

The Hatters jumped out to a quick early lead against the Spartans and last-minute starting pitcher Charlie Carpenter (1-3) by scoring five runs in the first three innings against the normal Upstate catcher. John Fussell got the ball rolling with a two-run single in the first to score Vance Vizcaino and Matt Morales, who both singled to reach base.

In the third inning it was freshman Kirk Sidwell with the big blow, a three-run homer to score Morales and Cory Reid. The homer was the first of Sidwell's collegiate career.

The Spartans got on the board against Stetson starter Brooks Wilson (4-5) in the fourth inning when Jake Beaver singled in Cody Brittain, who had singled and moved up on a wild pitch, That was the only run Wilson allowed over five innings of work. He scattered four hits, walked four and struck out four.

“Brooks didn't have great command, but he battled through five innings and then the bullpen did a nice job,” Dunn said.

The Hatters got the run back in the bottom of the fourth against reliever Bryan Hathaway when Will Mackenzie, who walked to open the frame, scored on a ground ball by Morales. Stetson added another run against Hathaway in the sixth when Mackenzie doubled home Kevin Fagan, and two more in the seventh on an Austin Hale single and an error.

Upstate got a single run in the seventh off Joey Gonzalez when the Spartans loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk and a bunt single. A sacrifice fly from James Fowlkes plated the run before Gonzalez got out of the inning with a ground ball and a strikeout.

The Spartans scored their final run, unearned, in the ninth off Eliot Shapleigh. J.J. Shimko led off the inning with a double over the head of Vizcaino in center and then scored on an error.

Morales and Fussell had two hits each to lead Stetson in the opener while Shimko and Daniel Fickas had two each for the Spartans.

Game 2: Stetson 9, USC Upstate 5

The going proved to be a little more difficult in the second game for the Hatters thanks in part to a sub-par start on the mound from freshman Logan Gilbert and to four errors in the field. Freshman Jack Perkins (1-1) was able to pitch around some defensive gaffs for almost three innings to earn his first collegiate victory.

“Gibby didn't have his good stuff at all, and that was obvious,” Dunn said. “Perkins came in and threw well and, even though he gave up three runs, only one of them was earned. He pitched a lot better than it looked. Keller got a big double play ball when we needed.”

Just like in the first game, the Hatters roughed up the Spartans' starting pitcher. This time it was Zack Mitchell (5-3) who allowed seven Stetson runs on nine hits over three innings.

It was freshman Jacob Koos who got things started for the Hatters in the second inning with a two-out triple to score two runs. Vizcaino followed with a single to center for a 3-0 lead.

Upstate got a run back in the third after Brittain doubled, moved to third and scored on a Carpenter single off Gilbert that included a throwing error by Mackenzie. The Spartans closed the gap to 3-2 in the fourth when Devon Ortiz led off with a double and then scored on another Mackenzie throwing error.

Upstate followed that mistake by loading the bases, but Perkins came in to get an inning-ending double play to preserve the Stetson lead.

“We kept shooting ourselves in foot but, the difference from previous games is that we got some double play balls to get out of innings,” Dunn said.

The Hatters pushed their lead out to five runs in the bottom of the inning, chasing Mitchell with five consecutive singles to open the frame. Jorge Flores, Koos and Vizcaino delivered RBI hits and Morales plated the fourth run on a sacrifice fly.

With a 7-2 lead going to the sixth, the Spartans again took advantage of Stetson defensive mistakes. A single by Ortiz to open the inning was followed by a wild pitch and then consecutive errors by Morales at short. A ground out by Fickas scored a second run and then Fowlkes singled in a third to make it 7-5.

Once again the Hatters answered, scoring a run in the sixth when Reid doubled home Vizcaino off reliever Colton Chupp and then again in the eighth when Reid singled home Dean Garabedian, who was running for Flores after his second hit of the game.

Junior closer Walker Sheller slammed the door on the Spartans over the final two innings to earn his eighth save of the year.

“We have to keep running Koos and those other freshmen out there to let them get their feet under them,” Dunn said. “Cory had three hits today that were big and Vance had a couple. We did a pretty good job of swinging the bats.

“We have been taking more pitches the last three games, by design, and we are not getting ourselves out early in counts and we are taking some walks. We are going to stay with that approach. These guys want to go up there and hack away, but we haven't been good at that. We are going to continue to work the count some. The three games we have done it we have scored 24 runs, so we will stay with it.”

In addition to Reid and Vizcaino, Mackenzie, Fagan, Flores and Koos all had two hits in the second game. Fowlkes, Brittain and Ortiz had three hits each to lead Upstate.

With junior Mitchell Jordan unavailable for the weekend due to an illness, sophomore left-hander Ben Onyshko (0-0, 6.14) will make his first A-Sun start on Sunday as the Hatters look for the sweep. The Spartans will counter with sophomore right-hander Blake Whitney (0-3, 4.91).

“Onyshko has earned this start,” Dunn said. “We are down a man right now. We had to go to Perkins today and Joey pitched in the first game. We have enough arms for tomorrow. It came down to Erik Wiebke or Onyshko, but Ben has earned this chance.”