Box Score DeLand, Fla. - The Stetson University baseball team fell to the Army Black Knights 13-8 at Melching Field at Conrad Park on Saturday night. The Hatters dropped their first game of the weekend slate after picking up a 12-2 win over Maine on Friday night. Despite the loss, three Hatters connected on homeruns while Gio Cueto extended his RBI streak to six straight games.

"It's the first time this year that we played poorly for two back-to-back innings and in previous games so far, we might not have played our best but we were able to limit things and not yield a big inning, " said Head Coach Steve Trimper. "This was a ballgame of an inning and half letdown that led to a loss and you have to play nine innings in this league, you can't take an inning off."

Following a scoreless first inning, the Black Knights struck first with a two-out solo homerun to left center field. A nine run third inning from Army furthered the deficit to 10-0 before a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth led to a sacrifice fly as Stetson trailed by 11 runs.

Looking for a spark, Brandon Hylton led off the side with a double to left field before Yohann Dessureault powered a one-out homer to center field, his second homerun of the season.

After Brendan Walker kept the Golden Knights off the board in the fifth, the Hatters continued to rake as Jayden Hylton and Mike Handal connected on homeruns, the latter of the two being a two-run shot. It was Hylton's second homerun of the season while it was Handal's first as a Hatter. The pair of jacks cut the Army lead down to six runs after previously trailing by 11.

Army responded to Stetson's surge with another pair of runs in the top of the sixth before Nick Durgin entered in relief to limit the damage and keep Stetson in the game. Down to the final three outs of the game, Stetson began to mount a late comeback.

The final side began with double to left center by Landon Moran before Jayden Hylton legged out a single to third base to put runners on the corners. With no outs, Cueto laced an RBI double to left field as he has now recorded an RBI in all six of Stetson's games this season. Handle drove in another two runs with a one-out double to left to make it a 13-8 ballgame. The comeback attempt would end there, however, as the Hatters fall to 3-3 on the season.

"He's a veteran guy, he's a very smart baseball player, there's a lot of things going on behind the scenes with him as our catcher where he moves defenses around or knows how to get hitters out," said Trimper about Cueto's early season performance. "He has a really good plan and I think that carries over to his offense, he understands the game and he takes what people give him and those kind of players rub off on everyone else so I hope that's the case."

While Aric McAtee got the starting nod, Durgin went the furthest on the mound, tossing 2.2 shutout innings while striking out four batters. Jayden Hylton led the offensive effort by going 4 for 5 with a homerun while Handle, who also homered in the contest, finished 2 for 5 with four RBIs.

"If were down three or four runs going into the last third of the baseball game, we have a really good chance and that's the kind of team we have to be but we need more of a command of the strike zone, we're not striking guys out like we're supposed to be doing right now and that is something that needs to change," said Trimper. "Durgin came in and did a great job and John Modugno came in and showed off pretty well but we have to get our other guys throwing better."

Stetson returns to action at Melching Field at Conrad Park on Sunday, Feb. 25 when they close out the weekend with the Fordham Rams at 1:30 PM.

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS.

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