Coral Gables, Fla. – Stetson had Saturday's elimination game in the Coral Gables Regional right where the Hatters wanted it against Florida Atlantic.
The Hatters held a 4-3 lead on the Owls with two out in the eighth inning and Stetson closer Walker Sheller coming to the mound. That all changed on Sheller's first pitch when FAU's Brett Lashley ripped a double into the left field corner, scoring a pair of runs and giving the Owls a 5-4 lead.
FAU tacked on another run in the inning on a single by Stephen Kerr and added two more in the ninth on a controversial two-run homer by Tyler Frank to take an 8-4 victory, ending the Hatters' season.
“We're very disappointed, to say the least,” Stetson coach Pete Dunn said. “I thought we came in and really competed well. We didn't come in here as a four seed and expect to get beaten around. Our guys really competed well last night and we just let it get away late in the game, and same thing today.
“I thought we did a great job pitching and everything else but you got to give them credit, they came back and got the two-out double from Lashley that tied it and put them ahead.”
Stetson finished the year with a 29-31 record. FAU improved to 39-18 and will play in another elimination game on Sunday against the loser of tonight's Miami-Long Beach State tilt.
The blown save for Sheller was his first of the year and handed the loss for a second straight day to senior Josh Thorne (3-4). FAU reliever Devon Carr (5-1), who worked three shutout innings down the stretch for the Owls, picked up the win in relief.
It was Florida Atlantic that got on the board first in the game, breaking a scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the fourth inning off Stetson senior Kevin Fagan. Christian Dicks led off the inning with a double and scored on a double by Gunnar Lambert. Kerr singled Lambert home for a 2-0 lead.
Stetson answered right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring three times to knock FAU starter Marc Stewart out of the game. Cory Reid, who had a season-high four hits in the game, led off the inning with a single, which John Fussell followed up with a hit of his own. After Kirk Sidwell's sacrifice bunt attempt failed, Will Mackenzie delivered a double to score Fussell.
Jack Machonis followed with a two-run single, giving the Hatters a 3-2 lead.
“I've been playing baseball for a long time and what this team over the past two weeks was probably the most fun I've ever had,” Reid said. “We got on a roll, kept it going, and we played well here, too. Like Coach said, we weren't going to come in here and get pushed around; we competed and we gave it our all, and at the end of the day, we can live with that.”
Stetson pushed its lead to 4-2 in the fifth when Reid reached on a one-out single and later scored on a two-out hit from Mackenzie off Nick Swan.
“We got hot at the right time in conference last week, and that was just a great experience,” Mackenzie said. “This team was such a strong family throughout the year, and for us to get hot like that, we earned it and we deserved it, and that was just an awesome experience.”
But the Hatters' bats wend silent from that point on as the left-handed Carr got eight outs against seven hitters before Fagan singled and Matt Morales drew a walk in the eighth. Carr closed out the inning with a strikeout of Vance Vizcaino and then closer Cameron Ragsdale finished off the game for the Owls in the ninth.
FAU got back to within 4-3 in the seventh inning against Stetson freshman Joey Gonzalez. Kerr walked to open the frame, stole second, went to third on a ground out and then scored on a sacrifice fly. Thorne finished off the inning for Stetson.
In the eighth Langham singled to open the frame and moved up on a sacrifice bunt before Frank drew a walk. Tyler Keller came on to face left-handed hitting Lambert and a got the second out on a fly ball before Sheller came to the mound.
In addition to Reid's four hits, the Hatters got two hits from Mackenzie. Billy Endris led FAU with three hits while Kerr and Dicks had two each.
“As I told the guys, I'm proud of them,” Dunn said. “You know, nobody gave us a chance going into the conference tournament; we were limping into the conference tournament and just started playing really well and got us here. Like I said, we didn't play well enough to win those two games, but I thought we really played well and competed, and I'm proud of them.”
