Whatever the Stetson Hatters did to wake their bats from Friday night's slumber, they should continue to do moving forward.
 
The Hatters pounded out a season-high 18 hits on Saturday night at Melching Field to take a 16-4 victory over visiting North Florida to set up a rubber game in the weekend series on Sunday.
 
Stetson improved to 20-11 overall with the win while dropping UNF to 10-16. The Hatters improved to 6-2 in ASUN play while the Ospreys fell to 4-4.
 
Let by their captain – fifth year senior Jorge Arenas – Stetson broke up a scoreless game in the fifth inning when Arenas singled home Nick DiPonzio for the first run against UNF starting pitcher Max McKinley (3-3). The hit was the 200^th in the Stetson career for Arenas, but far from his last of the night.
 
The Hatters followed that opening volley with three runs in the sixth inning, powered by back-to-back home runs from Hernen Sardinas and Brandon Hylton, seven runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth inning.
 
While the Hatters were battering UNF pitching during the second half of the night, redshirt junior left-hander Chris Gonzalez was in cruise control on the mound. Gonzalez had a shutout going until the eighth inning when UNF strung together three hits against him as part of what turned out to be a four-run inning.
 
Gonzalez allowed just five hits in the game and did not walk a batter, striking out four.
 
Overall, seven Stetson batters had multiple hits in the game, led by four from Arenas, who also drove in three runs. Banks Griffith had three hits in the game while Kyle Ball, Sardinas, Hylton, Eric Foggo and DiPonzio had two hits each.
 
The Hatters and Ospreys are scheduled to conclude their series at Melching Field on Sunday afternoon, with the game scheduled for a 1 p.m. start. Rain is expected to move into the area over night and continue through much of the day on Sunday.
 
Game Facts

• Win – Chris Gonzalez (4-1)
• Loss – Max McKinley (3-3)
• Time – 2:44

Scoring Summary

• B5 – Nick DiPonzio reached on a two-out single and Jorge Arenas followed with a double into the left field corner to give Stetson a 1-0 lead.
• B6 – After Kyle Ball singled to open the inning, Hernen Sardinas and Brandon Hylton hit back-to-back home runs to give the Hatters a 4-0 lead.
• B7 – The flood gates opened for the Hatters as Stetson scored seven times against five UNF pitchers. All five hits in the frame were singles, but the Ospreys also committed an error, hit two batters and allowed a walk. Foggo and Arenas both had two-run hits in the frame, with Arenas pushing the lead to 11-0.
• T8 – UNF bounced back with a four-run inning. Pinch-hitter Caleb Stafford doubled for his first hit of the year to get things started. Abraham Sequera followed an out later with a single to center to score the first Ospreys run. Isaiah Byars double to right center to put two runners in scoring position before Blake Pound delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly. Joshua Plummer came on in relief of Gonzalez, but walked consecutive batters to load the bases. Freshman Anthony DeFabbia came next and allowed a two-run single to center before recording the final out of the inning.
• B8 – Stetson came right back with a four-run inning of its own against UNF reliever Zach Chappell. Sardinas got things started with a one-out homer to right. After the second out was recorded, Stetson got a single from Foggo, a double by Christian Pregent, a wild pitch to score a run, an RBI single from Griffith, a walk to DiPonzio followed by the fourth hit of the game from Arenas to load the bases and then consecutive walks to account for the final runs.

Hatters Notes

• With his single in the third inning, Jorge Arenas became the second Hatter this season to reach the 200-hit plateau for his career. He went on to tie his career-high with four hits in the game. His other four-hit game came on March 31, 2017, against NJIT.
• With his three RBI in the game, Arenas improved his career total to 125, which is 26^th on the Stetson career list.
• Kyle Ball extended his team-best hitting and on-base streaks to 11 games and 23 games respectively with his leadoff single in the sixth.
• The Hatters had their fourth three home run game of the season. Stetson had not had a three home run game as a team since May 6, 2017, against Jacksonville before this year.
• The two home runs by Sardinas were his fourth and fifth of the year and give him 26 home runs in his career. It was the first multi-home run game for a Stetson player since Eric Foggo hit a pair of homers at UCF on February 18, 2020.
• Foggo moved to within two of hitting a milestone with his two RBI in the game. He now has 98 RBI in his Stetson career.
• The back-to-back home runs for Sardinas and Hylton in the sixth inning made them the first Hatters to go back-to-back since February 27, 2007, when Braedyn Pruitt and Josh Clendenin did it in the ninth inning against Bethune-Cookman in a game at Melching Field when the Hatters played as the visiting team.
• The 18 team hits in the game were the most for a Stetson team in a game since that March 31, 2017, game against NJIT.
• The 16-runs tied a season-high for the Hatters, who also scored 16 against North Alabama on February 27.
• The seven-run inning was the biggest for the Hatters since April 9, 2019, when Stetson had a seven-run eighth inning against Bethune-Cookman.

 
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.