RICHMOND, Ky. - Senior Nick Durgin was mowing batters down on Thursday, striking out eight Colonels over five innings of work to help power the Stetson Hatters past Eastern Kentucky 11-3.
In addition to his eight strikeouts, Durgin, now 1-2, tossed five innings, giving up one run on three hits and walking none for Stetson. Senior John Modugno also made an impact on the mound for the Hatters, starting the ballgame and throwing four innings, giving up two runs, all earned, on four hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.
The Hatters got on the board immediately, starting their scoring with one run in the top of the first inning. Stetson scored twice in the inning on back-to-back run-scoring doubles from junior Gio Cueto and junior Daniel Labrador.
After the Colonels rallied to tie the ballgame at two, the Hatters came back to retake the lead in the fifth inning. The Stetson offense exploded for five runs, capped off by a one-run single off the bat of sophomore Isaiah Barkett, which brought the score to 7-2 in favor of the Hatters. Labrador and Yohann Dessureault also drove in runs, the latter with a two-out double down the left line.
Stetson kept Eastern Kentucky scoreless before building their lead to 11-2 in the seventh inning. The Hatters bats heated up in the inning, scoring four runs, including a lead-off home run to right center field by freshman Logan Hughes and an RBI triple to left center by Evan Griifs. The Stetson scoring wrapped up with a one-run single off the bat of sophomore Lorenzo Meola. Eastern Kentucky put one run on the scoreboard before the game was over, but Stetson still coasted to the 11-3 win.
The Stetson pitching staff combined to strike out 13 Eastern Kentucky hitters while limiting EKU batters to just 1-for-5 (.200) with runners in scoring position. They faced 36 Colonels in the game, forcing five ground balls and nine fly balls while striking out 13.
The Hatters out-hit the Colonels at a 12-7 clip and went 7-for-21 (.333) with runners in scoring position.
The series is set to resume at 6:30 PM on Friday, March 29 at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium in Richmond, KY.
