The Stetson Hatters did almost everything right on Tuesday night at Melching Field, they just were unable to finish in taking an 8-6 loss to No. 25 South Florida.
 
The Hatters (15-20) held a 6-2 lead over the Bulls (28-5) going to the seventh inning. USF scored one in the seventh, two more in the eighth and then battered Stetson closer Joey Gonzalez (1-1) for three runs in the ninth.
 
"We didn't do the job on the mound late in the game with the lead," Hatters coach Steve Trimper said. "We played well tonight. We banged out some hits, we played good defense, we stole some bases and put pressure on them but then we had Joey go out there and he couldn't get the job done.
 
"He gave up a lot of hits. We have to go out there and execute our pitches. We can't leave the ball over the plate, especially against a very good hitting team like that. We expect our guys to compete a little better than that when whey get out there because that is how you win games."
 
Gonzalez allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in just two-thirds of an inning of work. The big blows were a ground rule double he allowed to pinch hitter Cameron Montgomery in the eighth inning to score two runs and a two-run single by David Villar in the ninth that broke a 6-6 tie.
 
Freshman Mitchell Senger came on the get the Hatters out of the ninth inning by retiring three straight Bulls hitters.
 
The late rally made a winner of sophomore left-hander Andrew Perez (3-1), who worked two perfect frames late to keep the Hatters in check. He was the fifth hurler of the night for USF, while piled up a total of 13 strikeouts in the game. None of the five pitchers for the Bulls had more than three Ks.
 
After Stetson starter Ryan Stark allowed USF to take a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Joe Genord, the Hatters answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning against Bulls starter D.J. Roberts. Jorge Arenas drew a bases loaded walk to score the first run and then Kirk Sidwell delivered a two-run single for a 3-1 Hatters lead.
 
The hit for Sidwell was the first of four in the game for the sophomore.
 
"Kirk is swinging the ball well," Trimper said. "He has stopped swinging at pitches out of the zone. In his at bats tonight, he took breaking balls out of the zone on 0-0 and 1-0 counts, so he forced the pitcher to throw the ball around the plate. When Kirk gets a chance to swing at pitches around the plate, he is pretty good."
 
The Hatters scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but had a chance at even more in the fourth. Sidwell and Austin Hale led off the inning with consecutive singles. After a sacrifice bunt moved runners into scoring position, Ben Rowdon delivered an infield chopper over third base to score a run. A two out walk loaded the bases, but Mike Spooner went down on strikes to end the threat.
 
It was the combination of Sidwell and Hale that produced another run in the fifth. Hale doubled to the gap in right center to score Sidwell from first.
 
In the sixth, Jacob Koos drew a one-out walk and came around to score. He moved up to second on a single by Andrew MacNeil, stole third and scored when USF catcher Andrew Leal threw the ball down the left-field line on the steal.
 
"We had been playing very good baseball for the last several games, going back to the NJIT series, because we had a very high compete factor," Trimper said. "You have to go out there and compete, no matter how well you are hitting or how good your stuff is on the mound. The guys who are going to be successful are going to learn how to compete day-in and day-out."
 
The Hatters will face another big challenge in ASUN play this weekend when they welcome the Owls of Kennesaw State in to Melching Field. With Easter on Sunday, the series will start on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. and continue on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
"It is a huge series and we will need our pitching staff to continue to pitch well," Trimper said. "There is no way to expect them to do what they have done the last two weeks, striking everyone out, but we are going to need more from the rest of our staff. We can't walk leadoff hitters and we can't go out there and throw the ball over the middle of the plate. That just doesn't work at this level and can't happen."

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.