Stetson senior Adam Schaly is hoping that Hatters and South Florida can reschedule the game between the teams that was rained out last week.

If that game gets made up, and Schaly gets another chance to pitch against the Bulls, there is no telling how many strikeouts he might record.

Schaly made his second start of the year, and eighth career appearance, against USF on Tuesday night at Melching Field and recorded a career-high nine strikeouts in just 4.1 innings of work to help Stetson (16-13) to a 5-1 victory. The win was Stetson's fourth straight.

The nine Ks bested his previous career-high of seven strikeouts, which Schaly posted back on March 15 in his first start this year against USF.

“I have thrown against those guys so many times, and have had some good outings against them,” Schaly said. “I was able to throw a lot of fastballs in tonight to get ahead and was then able to throw my breaking ball pretty well. Austin Hale was blocking everything back there and did a great job.”

The only real trouble Schaly faced was in the first inning when Kevin Merell led off the game with a single and then scored on a double into the left field corner by David Villar. From there is was total domination. Schaly recorded eight of the last nine outs on strikes before leaving in the fifth inning. He had thrown 88 pitches and was close to out of gas.

“At the end of the fourth inning Coach (Dave) Therneau asked me if I had enough left to get the lefty to start the fifth,” Schaly said. “My pitch count was pretty high, but I went out there and got one more out.”

Freshman Joey Gonzalez (3-0) was the first of four relief pitchers to follow Schaly in blanking the Bulls (15-14) the rest of the way. Gonzalez worked two innings before Tyler Keller, Josh Thorne and Kevin Fagan closed things out. Combined, the Hatters pitchers recorded 14 strikeouts.

“The entire pitching staff did a great job, but Adam set the bar very high with his performance,” Stetson coach Pete Dunn said. “You could tell his arm was getting tired. Dave is very cognizant of that and he saw his arm starting to drag a little. We would have loved to have left him in for five innings. He threw a lot of strikes, but they fouled a lot of pitches off and went deep in a lot of counts.”

The Hatters scored all the runs they would need in the second inning off USF starting pitcher Michael Clarkson (0-2). Consecutive one-out singles in the inning by John Fussell and Hale opened the door. Will Mackenzie was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs before Colton Lightner drew a walk to force in a run, tying the game at 1-1.

Vance Vizcaino followed with a sharp ground ball to first base that was misplayed by Joe Genord, allowing a run to score. Genord then compounded his mistake by throwing wildly back toward first for a second error, allowing another run to cross the plate. Matt Morales followed with an RBI single to make it 4-1.

“We were able to take advantage of a mistake, and that is what you had to do,” Dunn said. “We still didn't wear it out offensively, but when your aren't pounding the ball, you have to take advantage of those opportunities. Tonight we did that. We still have a ways to go, but the last four games I have been very happy after getting our noses rubbed in it up at Coastal.”

The Hatters added an extra run in the third inning when Kirk Sidwell delivered a leadoff single, went to third on a one-out double by Hale, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jack Machonis.

The rest of the night was about the pitching. Clarkson and reliever Brad Labozzetta combined to strikeout 10 Hatters and Stetson managed just two base runners after the third inning.

Stetson will open Atlantic Sun Conference play on Friday night at Florida Gulf Coast in the first game of what is scheduled to be an eight-game road stretch. Following a three-game series in Ft. Myers, the Hatters will play three games at North Florida and two at Florida State before returning home on April 22 to open a series against USC Upstate.

“Now we are going into the most important part of our season,” Dunn said. “We know how good Gulf Coast is, but I like where we are mentally right now. We are not where we need to be physically in terms of swinging the bats, but we are certainly pitching it very well.”

The series opener on Friday night is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.