The Stetson Hatters turned the tables on visiting Fairfield Sunday afternoon at Melching Field, getting on the board early and relying on solid pitching and defense to take a 3-0 victory over the Stags.
 
The win for Stetson (8-14) snapped a four-game skid and prevented Fairfield (5-10) from sweeping the weekend series.
 
Sophomore Logan Gilbert (3-0) set the tone in the first, putting the Stags down in order despite allowing a two-out hit. He picked Fairfield's Tim Zeng off at first to provide a spark.
 
Another sophomore, first baseman Mike Spooner, then provided some fire to go with the spark when he launched the a solo home run off Fairfield starter Kyle Dube (0-1) in the bottom of the inning.
 
"That was huge," Gilbert said of Spooner's second home run of the year. "You always love to get the offense going early because that lets you go out there the next inning and focus on working ahead in the count and just pitching to them."
 
Spooner said it was a key to get on the board early, especially after having given up three runs in the first inning to Fairfield in each of the first two games.
 
"Getting that lead early was big and was a key to us bouncing back today," Spooner said. We changed some things in our pregame. At the end of our stretch we were all bouncing and clapping and you could see that we had a little something extra."
 
Spooner also said that it was evident from the start that Fairfield would struggle against Gilbert.
 
"You can normally tell with the first batter, even the first couple of pitches, if he is pounding the zone," Spooner said of Gilbert. "If he gets a strikeout or forces weak contact it immediately sends a message to the other team."
 
Hatters coach Steve Trimper said Gilbert looked the same as he has all spring, with the exception of one inning.
 

"Logan has been sharp," Trimper said. "Outside of a four-run inning with two outs against The Citadel, he has been the same guy all year. He has been pounding the zone. His breaking ball was sharp today and he got a lot of swings and misses. He didn't get a lot of hard contact and that it is why we have to play such good defense behind him because he is going to get some weak contact."
 
The Hatters played errorless baseball for just the third time this year in getting the win. Spooner said eliminating those mistakes is something the team is focused on doing.
 
"We gave up three runs in the first two innings in the last two games and there were errors thrown in there both times that cost us runs," Spooner said. "That is just the way baseball is because when you make one mistake, it just seems to pile on."
 
The Stags found that out the hard way on Sunday when Stetson scored a single run in the fourth inning as the result of a Fairfield mistake. Kirk Sidwell got on base with two-out in the inning with a single to left after fouling off several pitches. Austin Hale followed with a high fly ball to shallow center that Fairfield's Drew Arciuolo struggled with. By the time the ball fell to the ground just past the glove or Arciuolo, Hale was at second base and Sidwell had raced around to score.
 
Gilbert kept the Stags at bay through the first six innings. The only threat he faced came in the second inning when he allowed consecutive singles to Kevin Radziewicz and Troy Scocca to start the frame. Gilbert got out of the inning by getting Mac Crispino to pop up a bunt attempt, followed by a double-play grounder off the bat of Michael Conti.
 
Gilbert got into a groove in the third, retiring 10 consecutive Fairfield hitters, including five on strikes. He struck out the side in the fifth and seemed set to cruise through the seventh despite allowing a leadoff single to Radziewicz. With two out in that inning, he walked Conti and Mitch Williams consecutively to load the bases.
He got out of that jam with a strikeout of Tyler Gambardella, his seventh of the game.
 
"I had walked two guys to put myself in that situation," Gilbert said. "Hale called great pitches and it was really great to execute that last pitch to get out of it and preserve the lead."
 
Trimper said the plan was to get Gilbert through the seventh so that freshman Ryan Stark could start the eighth inning with a clean slate.
 
"He got to two outs and gave up two walks and you could tell he was tired because he was getting the ball up," Trimper said. "He bore down, and that is the sign of a good pitcher, a guy who can get that last out. We just wanted to pound the zone on that last guy and he got the job done."
 
The Hatters put an extra insurance run on the board in the home half of the inning. Hale led off the frame with a double and moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jorge Arenas that left runners on the corners when the Stags tried to get Hale at third.
 
After a strikeout, a stolen base and an intentional walk, Colton Lightner singled up the middle to score Hale. Arenas was called out at home on the play on a throw from Arciuolo from center, drawing an argument from Trimper. Video clearly showed Arenas sliding in under the tag at the plate.
 
Stark made losing that run a moot point by retiring six of the seven batters he faced over the last two innings for his second save of the year.
 
"It was a huge win," Gilbert said. "Hopefully we can put together a little momentum going into the Florida game on Tuesday and get on a little roll."
 
Spooner agreed.
 
"We had a feeling that we would be able to get a big win here today so that we can roll into the UF game, and hopefully get a win there. This win was enormous. There is no way to describe how big this win was to get us rolling."
 
Trimper said he was happy to see some improvement in his teams' performance.
 
"I keep talking to our team about trying to get five percent better every day," Trimper said. "I am disappointed when we take steps backwards and don't improve. Today was a day that we maybe didn't get five percent better, but we got a little bit better. We made better contact, had fewer strikeouts and we put the ball in play.
 
"We are trying to take baby steps on the principles we are trying to teach. We still need to cut down on strikeouts, but we didn't make any errors in this game, we didn't walk a ton of guys and we had a little bit of timely hitting. You do those things and you win the game."
 
The Hatters were led offensively by Lightner, Jack Gonzalez and Sidwell with two hits each. Radziewicz and Troy Scocca had two hits apiece for the Stags, who had just five hits in the game.
 
"We have a big game on Tuesday night, and we are going to have to play well or they are going to capitalize on every mistake we make," Trimper said. "It is a great opportunity for us to play a well-schooled team and it is going to have to make us play spotless and perfect. That is the way we are going to have to play in every game – doesn't matter if it is Florida, Florida Gulf Coast or New Jersey Tech. You have to play the game the best you can in every game."
 
The Hatters and Gators will square off at Melching Field on Tuesday night with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. For information on tickets, visit GoHatters.com or call the Stetson Athletics Ticket Office at 386-738-HATS (4287).
 
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.