Ft. Myers, Fla. – The remarkable run for the 2018 Stetson baseball team continued on Saturday with a double-header sweep of ASUN rival Florida Gulf Coast at Swanson Stadium.
 
Stetson took the opening game of the Saturday twin-bill 3-1 behind another strong outing from Jack Perkins and then completed the sweep with a 9-4 victory in the nightcap. It is the second time a Stetson team has swept a series at FGCU, with the other coming in 2011.
 
The Hatters improved to 40-11 on the year, 14-3 in ASUN play, lowing their magic number to clinch the regular season title to one. It is the first time a Stetson team has won at least 40 games in a season since 2011 and it is the ninth time in the history of the program that the Hatters have won 40 in a year.
 
The victory also ran Stetson's win streak to 10 games, the longest since the 2007 season. The Hatters have not had a win streak of more than 10 games since a 12-game streak during the 2002 season.
 
FGCU falls to 31-19 overall and 7-11 in league play with the losses. The Eagles are currently a half game in front of NJIT, and a half game behind Lipscomb in the ASUN standings, with all three teams – along with North Florida and USC Upstate – in a heated race to make the ASUN Tournament.
 
Game 1 Recap
 
Perkins picked right up where he left off last week against UNF, pitching 7.2 shutout innings against the Eagles to key the Hatters' 3-1 victory. Going into the sixth inning, Perkins (9-2) had retired 31 of the last 33 batters he had faced, going back to last week.
 
Stetson got a run on the board against FGCU starter Josh Dye (7-4) in the third inning when Kyle Ball and Jacob Koos opened with consecutive hits to put runners on the corners. Baylen Sparks grounded into a double play, allowing Ball to score from third.
 
It looked like that would be the only run of the game until the Hatters plated a pair of big insurance runs in the eighth off Eagles reliever Kenton Hering. Sparks got things started with a two-out infield hit before sophomore Austin Bogart delivered a single through the left side.
 
Senior Brooks Wilson made those two hits count with a two-run double to the wall in left center for a 3-0 lead.
 
Perkins went back to the mound for the eighth inning and retired the first two hitters before allowing a walk. The Hatters called on senior left-hander Ben Onyshko from the pen to face FGCU's top offensive weapon, Alex Brait, and Onyshko shut down any thoughts of a rally by getting a called third strike to end the frame.
 
Wilson came on to pitch the ninth and, despite loading the bases by allowing a pair of walks and a single, he was able to hold the Eagles to just one run to record his 19^th save of the year, breaking both the school and ASUN season records formerly held by Robbie Powell.
 
Game 2 Recap
 
With the series win in hand, jumped off to a quick start, scoring a run without a hit in the first inning of game two in their search for a sweep.
 
FGCU showed it still had some fight left, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning, giving the Eagles their first lead of the weekend. The shaky start for Stetson sophomore Mitchell Senger (7-2)  came after the left-hander didn't get a call on what he thought was a strikeout of Kohl Gilmore to end the inning.
 
Gilmore took advantage of his new life by picking up a hit, the first of three straight for FGCU to plate a pair of runs.
 
The Eagles added a run in the third on a two-out single by Spencer Levine, but Senger escaped that inning without further damage to keep the deficit at 3-1.
 
The Hatters mounted their charge in the fourth inning against Eagles' starter Justin Gill (1-2), loading the bases on a double by Nico Torino and a pair of walks. Koos brought all three runners home with a triple to the wall in right center, giving Stetson a 4-3 lead.
 
Senger turned the game over to junior Joey Gonzalez in the sixth inning and he took it the rest of the way to earn his first save of the year.
 
Stetson pushed the lead to 5-3 in the sixth on back-to-back two-out hits from Nick Cardieri and Jonathan Meola, with Meola's going for an RBI double.
 
Wilson added another run to the advantage in the seventh inning when he hit an opposite field home run off FGCU reliever Sebastian Gruszecki.
 
The Hatters blew the game open in the ninth, scoring three insurance runs off another Eagles reliever, Parker Hamilton. A walk and singles from Wilson and Torino loaded the bases for Jorge Arenas, who picked up an RBI with a walk of his own.
 
FGCU called on another reliever, Peyton Gray, and Cardieri greeted him with a two-run single to make it a 9-3 Stetson lead.
 
The Eagles put together three hits off Gonzalez in the ninth inning to score a run, but he finished off the game with a strikeout to earn the save.
 
For the day, Wilson had three hits, drove in three runs and scored two in addition to earning a save. Koos had a pair of hits with three RBI on the day while Bogart had three hits and Cardieri had two. Levine led all batters with four hits on the day for FGCU while Christian Proffitt had three and Brait, Gilmore and Jay Hayes had two each.
 
The Hatters will try to run their win streak to 11 games on Tuesday night when they are scheduled to square off against Miami in Coral Gables. The Hurricanes (24-25) have also been hot of late, having won their last seven games, including a pair so far this weekend at Virginia Tech.
 
The game Tuesday at Mark Light Field is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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.