Spartanburg, SC – Any chance of the Hatters having an uninspired performance in either game in Saturday's doubleheader at Harley Park was quickly put to rest in the first inning – of both games.
 
Stetson got a two-run homer from Mike Spooner in the first inning of the opening game against USC Upstate, sparking an 11-0 victory over the Spartans in a game called after eight innings due to the ASUN run rule in double-headers.
 
In the second game, it was Austin Hale and Jack Gonzalez who hit solo homers in the first inning as the Hatters completed a sweep with a 6-4 victory.
 
The two wins improved the Hatters to 18-24 overall and, more importantly, 8-4 in league play. USC Upstate fell to 18-26 overall and 3-9 in conference play.
 
"I might be the king of doubleheaders from my previous school because we were always playing doubleheaders," Stetson coach Steve Trimper said. "I know how hard they are to win at home, much less on the road. Like The Citadel weekend, it was nice to get a doubleheader sweep because we were able to gain some ground in the conference, and that is all we are really thinking about."
 
The wins run Trimper's career record to 499-491-4, leaving him one win shy of a milestone in his career. He will get his first chance at that milestone win on Tuesday when the Hatters host Florida State at Melching Field. That game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start.
 

Game 1

 
Spooner's two-run homer in the first inning was the spark the Hatters needed after a flat performance on Friday. It was also all the run support that sophomore Jack Perkins (4-4) needed.
 
"We played about as well as we could in the first game," Trimper said. "We got outstanding pitching and we got a lot of timely hitting.
 
"It was so windy here today, and that won't show in the box score, but with the wind blowing out like it was, Jack's change up was moving so much that it was hard to control. His pitch count got up a little because of that, but he made some big pitches when he had to and he did a tremendous job to get that win when we had to have a win."
 
Perkins did not have a single inning where the Spartans didn't get a runner on base, but he also only faced more than four batters once. Overall, he allowed six hits and two walks over his seven innings of work and had six strikeouts. Four of those six Ks came to end an inning.
 
Junior Dean Garabedian put the Spartans down in order in the eighth to clinch the victory.
 
After Spooner's first inning home run off Upstate starter Kevin Hickey (3-5), the Hatters scored three runs in the third and three in the fifth, all off Hickey, and then scored three in the eighth off reliever Sam Rogers.
 
Junior captain Austin Hale, who had two hits in Friday's loss despite battling a stomach bug, came back with three hits, all doubles, in the opening game. He drove in one and scored twice.
 
Spooner added a run scoring single in the third and an RBI ground out in the eighth to his ledger while Jacob Koos and Jorge Arenas had two hits each in the game.
 
"What Mike Spooner is doing well is hitting with two strikes," Trimper said. "He is seeing a lot of pitches and then he is able to put a good swing on the ball. He had two hits on first pitch fastballs as well, so he is attacking fastballs and he is not swinging at pitches outside the zone."
 

Game 2

 
The Hatters got the two solo home runs in the first inning – from Hale and Jack Gonzalez – off Upstate starter Blake Whitney (5-5), but the junior right-hander was not about to go down without a fight.
 
After the Gonzalez home run, Whitney retired seven straight – six on strikes - before Spooner and Gonzalez had back-to-back singles to open the fourth. After a sacrifice bunt moved those two runners into scoring position, Whitney bore down to get back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the inning with no damage.
 
"We got the long ball, and that helped, but we didn't get the timely hitting that we'd like and we left guys on base," Trimper said. "At least three times we had runners at third base with less than two outs and weren't able to get them in. We can't get back into that habit."
 
While Whitney was holding the Hatters in check, Stetson sophomore Logan Gilbert (7-0) was battling just to get through every inning. He was able to strand five runners on base in the first two innings before the Spartans pushed a run across with a ground out in the third.
 
After a 1-2-3 fourth, Gilbert got out of another jam in the fifth, stranding a pair of runners.
 
Spooner struck again, hitting his second home run of the day in the sixth inning to push the Stetson lead to 3-1. Gilbert was able to protect that lead in the bottom of the inning, getting a double play grounder with the bases loaded to get out of trouble again.
 
"Gibby's off-speed was not working, but he found a way to get outs," Hale said. "We got some great defense up the middle with a bases loaded double play and I think that really killed their momentum."
 
Gilbert finished his day by allowing just one run on nine hits. He walked two and struck out five over seven innings of work.
 
Stetson put three insurance runs on the board in the eighth inning, and they turned out to be huge. The inning got started when Hale singled and then Spooner and Gonzalez followed with back-to-back bunt singles. The scoring on the bunt from Gonzalez was later changed to an error on Upstate pitcher Trey Van Der Weide, but Spooner's bunt hit was the first of the year for the Hatters.
 
The big blow in the inning came from an unlikely source. Junior Brooks Wilson, who pitched on Friday, was in the lineup for both games as designated hitter. He had an RBI double in the first game, and was one of the runners the Hatters left stranded at third in the second game after he led off the seventh inning with a double. He came through big in the eighth with a two-run single through the right side on an 0-2 pitch from Eric Birklund.
 
"Those were huge runs," Trimper said. "We got some bunts down for hits, and I know that was the first time all year we have been able to do that. That was with our 3-4 hitters, so we did what we had to do to find a way to win.
 
"With Brooks, he has been taking BP for about three weeks, and he has a tremendous swing. He is not very experienced but, the way we have been swinging, I thought we needed a little extra thump with the wind blowing the way it was. It was a good day to see what he could do. He had a big hit late in the game to get the game-winning RBI."
 
With Stetson holding a 6-1 lead, it was up to the Hatters bullpen to make it standup. Freshman Ryan Stark came in to replace Gilbert to open the eighth, and surrendered a two-run home run to Jordan Miller, who pitched for the Spartans on Friday and was catching in place of Charlie Carpenter, who was injured in the first game on Saturday.
 
Stark gave up two more hits, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate, before Joey Gonzalez came in from the pen. He walked J.J. Shimko to load the bases before getting Hunter Gilbert to fly out to end the inning.
 
In the ninth, Gonzalez allowed a walk and a single to again bring the winning run to the plate. He struck out Miller for the second out and then Tyler Keller came in to retire Chris Rodriguez on a fly ball to earn the first save of his career.
 
On a day with numerous offensive stars, it was Hale who stood out the most. He was 6-for-10 on the day with four doubles and a home run, scoring four times while catching every inning.
 
"Austin caught all 17 innings of a doubleheader after a night game last night and he is really swinging the bat well right now," Trimper said. "He got a big home run in the second game and everything was falling in for him. He even hit the bag for a double in the second game to start an inning for us."
 
Hale said it may be the fact that he was sick that allowed him to have such a good day at the plate.
"I was getting into some good counts and was patient," Hale said. "I have been throwing up for the last couple of nights and I was just trying to play through it today. I think that helped me to not think too much at the plate. I got into some really good counts and I didn't make many mistakes. The base helped me out on the last one."
 
While the early home runs in both games certainly helped, Hale said the team had a different attitude on Saturday.
 
"We came out with some urgency today," Hale said. "We got some timely hits and the home runs were big. We had no energy yesterday, but we came out with a lot of energy today and played well."
 
The doubleheader means the team will have an extra day of rest before facing Florida State on Tuesday and then South Florida on Wednesday. The FSU game will have an early start time, 5 p.m., on Tuesday at Melching Field.
 
"We look forward to every game we play, but I know these guys are really looking forward to playing Florida State at home," Trimper said. "I thought we played them tough earlier this week. I hope we have a big crowd and that we play well that night.
 
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.