Coral Gables, Fla. – Just like in their regular season meeting almost three months ago, the Stetson Hatters were unable to generate enough offense on Friday night to support a strong performance on the mound in a 4-2 loss to No. 3 national seed Miami, this time in the opening round of the NCAA Coral Gables Regional.
The Hatters (29-30) must now bounce back quickly to prepare for an elimination game on Saturday afternoon against Florida Atlantic (38-18), which dropped a 5-1 decision to Long Beach State (37-20) in the opening game of the day on Friday at Mark Light Field. The Dirtbags and Hurricanes (46-11) will face off in a winner's bracket game Saturday night at 7 p.m.
The loss for Stetson on Friday snapped a four-game win streak and was by exactly the same score that the Hatters lost to Miami back on March 9.
Stetson got on the board early against Miami starter Danny Garcia, scoring a run in the second inning on a two-out single by Jack Machonis. But Garcia turned things up a notch on the Hatters after that hit, retiring 17-of-19 Stetson hitters.
While Garcia was having his way with the Stetson lineup, the Hatters' Mitchell Jordan was doing a nice job of his own, keeping a potent Hurricanes offense in check. Miami scored single runs in the third and fourth innings against Jordan, who worked seven frames for Stetson.
“Anytime the offense gives you a good lead, it gives you the confidence to pound the zone, and that's what I did tonight,” Jordan said. “I had four walks, but I was just trying to pound the zone early and get ahead of these guys, not let the outside atmosphere get to me, and just pound the zone.”
Neither starter was involved in the decision.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge down here to play the Hurricanes in this environment,” Hatters head coach Pete Dunn said. “They never blinked. Mitchell threw a heck of a game, as did Garcia. It was a great pitcher's duel. Both of them were battling and competing. Neither team was doing a whole lot offensively against the pitchers.”
It was during Jordan's final inning of work that his battery mate, Austin Hale, turned in the play of the game. Jacob Heyward, the younger brother of the Chicago Cubs' Jason Heyward, tried to bunt his way on to lead off the seventh. He popped his bunt attempt back toward Stetson's third base dugout, but Hale made a sliding catch for the first out of the inning.
“I knew I had a chance just by diving because I knew I had the screen to prevent me from falling,” Hale said. “I just dove for it and somehow it was in my glove. I got gravel all over by the family that was right in front of me, so, I actually felt bad about that. It was a good play and I think it helped the momentum carry us a little bit further in the game.”
With Miami holding to a 2-1 lead going to the eighth inning, the Hatters mustered a rally to tie. After Matt Morales drew a one-out walk against Garcia, the 'Canes turned to freshman right-hander Frankie Bartow (5-0) out of the bullpen. He got Vance Vizcaino to ground out for the second out of the inning, but then Hale delivered a two-out single to score Morales and tie the game.
“I am sure Frankie doesn't feel good about his outing,” Miami coach Jim Morris said. “He threw really well, except for one pitch. He probably threw that pitch in the five-zone, which means right down the middle, and the guy got a hard line drive. Most of the time, Frankie has done a great job for us.”
Miami answered right back in the bottom of the inning, getting things started against Stetson senior Josh Thorne (3-3) with a one-out walk to Randy Batista. Zach Collins followed with a single to right before the Hatters turned to closer Walker Sheller.
Sheller surrendered a bloop single to Brandon Lopez to load the bases, before uncorking a wild pitch with Johnny Ruiz at the plate, allowing Batista to score the go-ahead run. Sheller walked Ruiz to reload the bases before getting a double-play ground ball off the bat of Willie Abreu. The twin-killing, however, never happened as Morales' throw to first was wide of the bag, allowing Collins to score with an insurance run.
“It is what it is, but I would want Walker out there in that type of situation every time,” Hale said. “I'm not nervous back there. We've been in that situation before and Walker has gotten us out of it. I think the emotion was just to [man] up and execute there.”
Dunn said the walk to Batista and not getting the double-play were the big plays in the inning.
“I am convinced we struck Batista out, but it didn't go that way,” Dunn said. “A team like, Miami coming back from behind late in the game, they're confident in doing that. When they did get the walk with Batista it kind of rolled and Collins got the base hit. They did what they had to do to get the run.
“We had the chance to turn the double play and come out of the inning down one, which, as a coach, it's always easier to play catch-up with one. But, we didn't turn the double play and they got that one insurance run that made it more difficult for us.”
The Hatters got a hit from John Fussell to open the ninth against Miami closer Bryan Garcia but, facing a two-run deficit, Stetson was unable to employ the sacrifice bunt that has worked so well in recent games. Kirk Sidwell followed by hitting into a double play, so that the hit delivered by Will Mackenzie had no impact.
Morris had strong praise for the Hatters, and especially Jordan.
“I'd like to congratulate Stetson, they've got a good club,” Morris said. “Mitchell Jordan kept us off-balance all night. He pitched extremely well and really battled and pitched outstanding against us. We hit very few balls hard off of him and they did a good job defensively, too.”
The Hatters actually out-hit Miami in the game 7-6. Fussell and Mackenzie led the way for Stetson with two hits each. No one for Miami had more than one hit.
When the Hatters and Owls meet on Saturday it will be the first game between the programs in 10 years. The last time the teams met was in 2006 in A-Sun play, the last year in the league for FAU. The Hatters hold a 35-25 all-time series lead over the Owls.
