Consecutive hits from Baylen Sparks, Eric Foggo and Jorge Arenas in the bottom of the ninth inning on Saturday night gave Stetson fans something to cheer about, but the Hatters saw their late rally come up just short in a 4-3 loss to Sam Houston State to close out the second day of the RyCass Classic.
 
Virginia Tech defeated Manhattan 15-3 in the early game on Saturday, setting up a tournament championship game against the Bearkats on Sunday. Those two teams, both 2-0 on the weekend, will play at 10:30 a.m. Stetson and Manhattan, both winless in the tournament, will meet at 3 p.m.
 
For the second straight night, the Hatters struggled offensively against their opponent's top starting pitcher. Junior right-hander Hayden Wesneski (1-0) kept the Stetson hitters off balance for seven-plus innings, allowing just one run on five hits with 11 strikeouts. Six of those strikeouts were on called third strikes and three came in a rare immaculate inning in the third, when he struck out the side on just nine pitches.
 
Stetson sophomore Robbie Peto (0-1) was almost equal to the challenge, but had to work his way out of jams in each of his five innings on the mound. In fact, the Bearkats had runners on base in every inning except the seventh.
 
SHSU broke on top in the third inning after Peto surrendered consecutive walks. A sacrifice bunt was followed by a sac fly to put the Bearkats up 1-0.
 
The visitors added another run in the fourth inning with the help of a Stetson error. SHSU got a bunt single and then a hit through the infield to put runners on the corners with one out. Chase Cryer hit a sharp grounder to Stetson's Jonathan Meola at third, and Meola came home to cut down the lead runner for the second out.
 
Reese Johnson followed with a hit off the outstretched glove of Eric Foggo at first, but instead of holding the runners, Foggo made an errant throw to Peto covering, allowing a run to score.
 
Stetson answered in the bottom of the inning when junior Austin Bogart tripled to deep center and then scored on a Sparks single. Both Bogart and Sparks finished the game with two hits to lead the Hatters.
 
Sam Houston State pushed the lead to 3-1 in the eighth when Cryer connected for a two-out solo home run off reliever Nick Chiseri, who had a strong first outing to his Stetson career.
 
The Bearkats added another run in the ninth without hitting the ball out of the infield. Chiseri got four ground balls in the frame, the last of which appeared to get the final out on a force play at second. Instead, the runner was called safe and Colton Cowser scored all the way from second on the play for a 4-1 lead.
 
Arenas got the Hatters to within one in the ninth with a two-run single after Sparks and Foggo's hits off Nick Mikolajchak. A pitching change as the result of an apparent injury to Mikolajchak brought Kyle Backhus on to pitch with the tying run on base and no one out.
 
Backhus got consecutive strikeouts before Jacob Koos singled to keep the Hatters hopes alive. Those hopes died when Andrew MacNeil grounded out to end the game. It was the first collegiate save for Backhus.
 
Stetson ended up matching Sam Houston State with nine hits in the game, but the Hatters struck out a total of 13 times for the second straight night.
 
The Hatters will go after their first win again on Sunday when junior right-hander Ryan Stark makes his first start of the year.
 
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.