Some old bad habits hurt the Hatters on Saturday afternoon at Melching Field, costing Stetson in a 4-2 ASUN loss to No 9 Florida Gulf Coast.
 
The Hatters took their first loss of the year in five conference games and fell to 14-19 overall on the season. FGCU improved to 25-8 overall and 2-3 in the conference, snapping a five-game losing skid.
 
Stetson had chances early to turn a 1-0 lead into a two or three-run advantage, but were unable to put the ball in play with runners at third base.
 
"We didn't get contact when we had a chance to go up 2-0 or 3-0, and that would have given us a little leeway," Hatters coach Steve Trimper said. "Against a good team you have to do those things. We had three opportunities for veterans in our lineup to get an RBI by simply making contact, but we didn't execute."
 
Those opportunities came in the second inning and again in the sixth against FGCU starter, and DeLand native, Josh Dye (6-1). In the second it was Jorge Arenas who led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third with no one out when the throw from FGCU catcher Spencer Levine went into center.
 
Dye was able to get out of the jam by getting Austin Hale to role a ball in front of the plate and then getting Colton Lightner on strikes. Ben Rowdon grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
 
In the sixth it was Andrew MacNeil who led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a deep fly ball from Mike Spooner. Dye got out of that jam by getting Jack Gonzalez to pop out to second before retiring Austin Bogart on strikes.
 
Stetson took the lead in the first inning when Jacob Koos reached on an error, moved up on a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Spooner.
 
From that point on, it was a pitchers' dual between Dye and Stetson sophomore Jack Perkins. The only blip against Perkins in the game came in the sixth inning when FGCU senior slugger Nick Rivera connected for a solo home run, his seventh of the year.
 
"I thought Jack Perkins did a heck of a job out there," Trimper said. "He did not have any walks."
 
Perkins finished his seven innings of work with 11 strikeouts while allowing just that one run on five hits.
 
FGCU took its first lead of the series in the eighth inning after Perkins exited the game. Junior Ben Onyshko (1-4) retired the first two hitters in the eighth before Rivera doubled to left. Corey Fehribach followed with a single to right to put the Eagles ahead 2-1.
 
"Ben Onyshko has got to understand, when he gets two outs, who is at the plate," Trimper said. "You don't have to attack there because Rivera was a guy who we didn't want to hurt us today, but he did. It is one thing to give us a home run because that is going to happen, but you can't give him anything that he can drive in that situation."
 
FGCU padded its lead by scoring twice in the ninth inning, again striking after the first two batters were retired in the frame. Freshman Ryan Stark surrendered a two-out walk and then Gage More greeted Tyler Keller with a single to center. The Hatters walked Rivera intentionally to get to Fehribach, who then made Stetson pay with a two-run single through the right side of the infield.
 
"We still had a chance, down 2-1, going to the ninth inning, but we let FGCU get a big two-out RBI," Trimper said. "They scored three of their runs with two out today. He (Fehribach) came into the game in a little bit of a slump, hitting just .160 over his last 30 at bats. He was the guy we wanted to attack to see if he could beat us, and he did."
 
Stetson mounted a rally against FGCU closer Sterling Koerner in the bottom of the ninth. Spooner and Gonzalez delivered back-to-back hits to open the frame before Koerner got Bogart to hit into a double play. Arenas followed with an RBI single to center and advanced to third when the ball rolled past Morey to the wall, but Hale flew out to end the game.
 
The save for Koerner was his league-leading 10^th of the year.
 
Gonzalez and Arenas has two hits apiece in the game to lead Stetson. Morey had three hits for FGCU while Rivera had two and scored twice and Fehribach had two and drove in three runs. Five of the nine hits in the game for the Eagles went for extra bases.
 
With the series now even, Trimper said his team has to decide how they want to react.
 
"It is a dogfight," Trimper said. "This is a good team that we are playing, but we have been playing good teams all week. I asked them if they felt overmatched or blown out of the water against these teams? If the answer is no, that must mean we have a good team.
 
"Tomorrow is a great opportunity to win a series against a team that is going to win a lot of games for the rest of the year. Our objective has to be to stay on top in the conference."
 
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.