It may have taken a few days longer than hoped for, but Steve Trimper's first win as head coach of the Stetson Baseball program was a thing of beauty.
 
The Hatters defeated visiting Siena Tuesday night 9-0 behind a superlative pitching performance by freshman right-hander Ryan Stark (1-1).
 
"He threw well in the first weeks of scrimmages and I thought he threw better the other day than his line showed," Trimper said of Stark. "He went out there and commanded two pitches. The breaking ball was good and his pitch count was low. He did a tremendous job. He really competes, and I love that about the kid."
 
After a relief appearance against SIU when he allowed five runs (two earned) on four hits over three innings, Stark worked into the eighth inning of his first start, blanking the Saints (0-4) on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
 
Relievers Tyler Keller and Dean Garabedian combined to record the final five outs for Stetson, all on strikeouts.
 
Offensively, it was the top of the batting order that did the most damage for Stetson. Jacob Koos had three hits from the leadoff spot and freshman Andrew MacNeil had two hits and drove in four from the No. 2 spot in the order.
 
"We were a little frustrated over the first three innings because we got runners to second with no outs, but we didn't do what we were supposed to do and move them over," Trimper said. "We stayed patient until we were able to get some walks or an error to open the flood gates.
 
"Jacob set the tone for us after struggling over the weekend. He made some adjustments on the inside pitches by coming in and doing some work on his own. We had four freshmen in the lineup tonight and it was good to see those guys play well."
 
The Hatters scored twice in the second inning off Siena starter Joe Nolan (0-1). Freshman catcher Chris Tidwell drove in the first run on a double down the right field line and then scored on a MacNeil two-out single.
 
Stetson had a chance to blow the game open in the fourth, loading the bases against reliever Domenic Nardone with one out. A walk to Kirk Sidwell forced in a run before Mike Spooner ripped a sinking liner toward the right field corner that Siena first baseman Joe Drpich snagged and turned into a double play.
 
An error, one of three in the game for the Saints, in the sixth inning opened the door for the Hatters to score two more runs. MacNeil plated one with a sacrifice fly and the Sidwell singled to right to drive in the second.
 
Stetson blew the game wide open in the seventh, batting around and scoring four runs. Jorge Arenas drove in the first with a triple to score Spooner. A ground out scored Arenas and then MacNeil capped his day with a two-run single to left-center.
 
"We are still trying to find who will fit where because there are a lot of pieces," Trimper said. "That is why I put MacNeil up at the top of the order plus, that lets me put Lightner, and Austin Hale when he comes back, down into RBI spots."
 
For Trimper, the first win at Stetson, which was win number 1,995 for the Stetson program, was more about giving his team some confidence after a tough opening weekend.
 
"It is not just one guy, these kids and this coaching staff have worked extremely hard to get ready for this season," Trimper said. "It has been a unique situation because there have been so many things going on in that office every day. I wish I had time to focus more on baseball, but finding a house, and getting hotels for the road, and setting up meal money and learning how to do Stetson paperwork has taken a lot of time.
 
"Now, there should be some pressure taken off the guys. Now that they have the first one we have to try to get on a roll."
 
The Hatters and Saints are scheduled to complete their two-game series on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., but with rain forecast to fall throughout the day, there is a chance to game will get moved to a Thursday afternoon start.
 
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