It was a gloomy, dreary, night at Melching Field, but the bat rack in the Stetson dugout was smoking hot as the Hatters matched a season-high with 17 hits in taking a 14-5 victory over USC Upstate in the opening game of the final regular season series of the year.
 
The victory runs the Stetson win streak to 11 games and also clinched the outright regular season title in the ASUN.
 
Stetson now stands at 41-11 overall on the season, including a 15-3 record in league play. USC Upstate falls to 23-28-1 overall, 5-14 in conference play.
 
Stetson scored in each of the first seven innings against the Spartans pitching staff. Solo home runs by Mike Spooner in the first and Eric Foggo in the second inning off Upstate starter Blake Whitney (5-3) got things started.
 
The Hatters then blew the game open, scoring five times in the third inning to chase Whitney and three more times in the fourth off reliever Grant Hoppock.
 
Stetson sent 10 batters to the plate in the third, scoring the five runs on five singles, a walk and two hit batters. Jacob Koos, Brooks Wilson and Foggo each drove in single runs and Jorge Arenas plated two.
 
In the fourth inning the Hatters had four more hits, three of which went for two bases. Spooner, Wilson and Foggo all had doubles in the frame.
 
The Hatters added a single run in the fifth off Trey Van Der Weid on a ground ball by Koos, plating Kyle Ball. A pair of triples in the sixth inning, from Jonathan Meola and Ball, resulted in two more runs. The final Stetson run came on a Wilson double in the seventh inning, scoring Koos.
 
Stetson junior Jack Perkins (10-2) was the beneficiary of the offensive explosion. The right-hander retired the first seven hitters of the night, but allowed a single unearned run in the third, then two more runs in the fifth inning. He left the game with two on and two out in the sixth, but both runners came in to score, both unearned, as the result of a passed ball, a wild pitch by reliever Vlad Nunez and an error.
 
Perkins struck out seven while allowing five runs, but only two that were earned, on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings of work.
 
Nunez got a strikeout to end the sixth before working quickly through the next two innings. Sophomore Ryan Stark pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the win.
 
Foggo and Spooner both came within a triple of hitting for the cycle in the game, both finishing with three hits for Stetson. Koos, Wilson, Ball and Arenas each had two hits in the game. The two for Arenas give him 100 hits in his career for the second time after his two hits at Miami on Tuesday were erased by the rain out.
 
Upstate leadoff hitter Pat Raiff had three hits to lead the Spartans and Mason Stewart added two hits.
 
The Hatters will look to earn their 12^th consecutive win, matching a win streak from the 2002 season, on Friday when junior Logan Gilbert (9-1) takes the mound against Upstate junior Jacob Thiessen (1-4). The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.

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.