Stetson had things going its way through the first four innings against Jacksonville on Saturday night at Melching Field.
 
Then a couple of bad breaks opened the door for the visiting Dolphins to have a big inning, which Stetson was never able to overcome in a 7-5 ASUN Conference loss.
 
With the loss, the Hatters (23-16, 9-5 ASUN) now trail FGCU by one game in the race for the No. 1 seed from ASUN South Division in the conference tournament. FGCU has defeated UNF twice this weekend, putting the Ospreys one game behind Stetson, in third place. Jacksonville improved to 8-28 overall on the year with its first ASUN victory (1-13).
 
Stetson led the Dolphins 4-0 behind a grand slam from Hernen Sardinas in the third inning and had left-hander Chris Gonzalez (5-2) on the mound, having cruised through the first four frames.
 
But the Dolphins were able to open a rally when Christian Coipel pulled a ground ball right at the spot traditionally filled by the second baseman. But, with the Hatters shifted against the left-handed pull hitter, Jorge Arenas was stationed in shallow right field, and had no play on the grounder.
 
Cory Heffron followed with a hit-and-run ground ball right to shortstop, but with Kyle Ball on the move to cover the bag with Coipel on the run, the ball went right behind Ball, into left field, putting runners on the corners.
 
From there, the Dolphins scored on a sacrifice fly, a single to shallow right by Ruben Someillan and, after Gonzalez loaded the bases by hitting consecutive batters, a three-run triple by Tommy Joseph to put JU in the lead. Mike Cassala followed with an RBI single to push the Dolphins' advantage to 6-4.
 
Freshman Austin Amaral came on to pitch for the Hatters, and shut the Jacksonville offense down for the next 3.2 innings, but Stetson was unable to take advantage of its opportunities to score.
 
Stetson's missed scoring chances started in the first inning when Andrew MacNeil led off the game with a ground-rule double, but was left stranded at second. The Hatters also failed to get MacNeil home with he reached on a one-out triple in the seventh.
 
The Hatters had their other scoring chance in the eighth, when Brandon Hylton opened the inning with a single and Eric Foggo drew a one-out walk to put the tying and go-ahead runners on base. Jacksonville was able to escape the jam when redshirt senior Jagger McCoy came in from the pen to record consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.
 
McCoy closed out the game in the ninth, getting a double-play to secure his second save of the year.
 
The Hatters and Dolphins will close out their weekend series on Sunday afternoon at Melching Field at 1 p.m., but that will not be the final game between the teams this year. Stetson, JU and UNF have agreed to play a weekend series May 14-16 to make up for the ASUN cross-over series games that were canceled. JU and UNF will play each other on Friday night at JU before the Dolphins visit Stetson on Saturday, May 15. That game will have a 6:30 p.m. start. Stetson will then play at North Florida on Sunday, May 16, in a game scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.
 
Game Facts

• Win – Tyler Naumann (1-1)
• Loss – Chris Gonzalez (5-2)
• Save – Jagger McCoy (2)
• Time – 3:20

Scoring Summary

• B3 – Jorge Arenas and MacNeil got the inning started with a single and a double. Kyle Ball loaded the bases, working a walk, setting the stage for Hernen Sardinas, who blasted the first pitch he saw for a grand slam and a 4-0 Stetson lead.
• T5 – Jacksonville scored six runs on five hits and a pair of hit batters. Tommy Joseph had the big blow with a three-run double to give JU the lead.
• B6 – Hylton doubled to open the inning, moved up on a ground ball and scored on an infield single by Foggo, cutting the JU lead to 6-5.
• T9 – JU plated an insurance run when Someillan singled, moved up on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a ground ball single up the middle by Jackson Grabsky.

Hatters Notes

• MacNeil had two doubles in a game for the first time in his career. He now has 28 career doubles.
• In addition, MacNeil had his third triple of the season and had the first four-hit game of his career.
• The grand slam hit by Sardinas was the first for a Stetson player since Will Mackenzie hit two in one game against LIU Brooklyn on March 22, 2015.
• Freshman Austin Amaral turned in 3.2 no-hit innings of relief work for Stetson with four strikeouts. He has now appeared in five games this spring, allowing just one earned run in 10.2 innings with 10 strikeouts.

 
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.