Clutch pitching, clutch hitting: Stetson comes through for ASUN semifinal win over FGCU
DELAND — Stetson’s pitching was the story for most of its ASUN Conference semifinal against Florida Gulf Coast Saturday.
Then, the bottom of the seventh inning happened.
With a 4-1 lead at Melching Field, the Hatters exploded for five runs to put the game out of reach. They won 9-3 and will play Kennesaw State in the finals Sunday.
“I think (the Eagles) are a wonderful team,” Stetson coach Steve Trimper said. “It was a good win. We played really well. I think the difference in the ballgame today was they had bases loaded twice and we got out of the jam, and we got some two-out RBIs.”
Six of the Hatters’ nine runs came with two outs.
In the seventh, Stetson loaded the bases with two down before junior catcher Gio Cueto and sophomore first baseman Landon Moran delivered back-to-back RBI singles. Sophomore shortstop Lorenzo Meola provided the biggest blow.
He launched a three-run blast over the right-centerfield wall to make it 9-1.
“The pitcher had just come into the game, and he threw two pretty good breaking balls that I took,” Meola said. “I’ve been seeing the ball well for the past couple of weeks, so I set myself up for a heater. It was on the outer half, and I took a good swing at it.”
Meola had already homered once. He drove a solo shot out to left field in the sixth, finishing with a game-best four RBIs.
Redshirt senior designated hitter Brandon Hylton slugged the other Hatters long ball — a two-run blast off the batter’s eye in center field during the bottom of the second inning. That was their first hit and handed them a 2-0 advantage.
Moran propped the lead to 3-0 with an RBI double in the fourth inning.
COLLEGE BASEBALL: ASUN Conference Tournament has two games canceled
The eighth-inning insurance was crucial. For much of the contest, Stetson’s pitchers navigated danger. They did so successfully, though.
Redshirt sophomore TJ Melani got the start, the first of his college career in his 30th appearance.
“Instead of doing what you want to call a starter, we did the opener,” Trimper said. “We went with our bullpen. Our bullpen is really strong, and this was a must-win. So we figured we had TJ to Zane (Coppersmith) to Cole (Stallings). That was our plan. We needed (Chris) Shine in there in case we had traffic on base. He pitches really well in traffic.”
Melani went 3⅓ shutout innings. When he encountered trouble — bases loaded, one out — in the top of the fourth, Shine entered, collecting a lineout and a strikeout to kill the threat.
Shine also completed the fifth. He allowed a leadoff hit by Eagles right fielder Charles Davalan, who advanced to second on a pickoff-attempt error and to third on a fly ball. But Shine picked up another strikeout to end the frame.
Florida Gulf Coast scored its first run in the top of the sixth.
It loaded the bases with one out against Shine’s replacement, Coppersmith, who fanned second baseman Trevor Kole for the second out. But he lost the next batter, surrendering a walk to Davalan to plate the run.
Stallings came in and induced a groundout to halt the inning.
He returned for the seventh. After the Eagles put runners on first and second with one out, Stallings worked out of it with a popup and a flyout.
“The guys were confident,” Trimper said, referencing his team’s designated word of the year. “If we got an error or a walk or a hit batsman, they went on to the next pitch.”
Trailing 9-1, Florida Gulf Coast tacked on two in the ninth on a home run off Stallings by first baseman Robert Moya.
The Eagles closed their campaign with a 30-26 record.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, Stetson (39-20) will face Kennesaw State for the second time in the tournament. The Owls claimed a 6-5 victory in pool play Tuesday.
“I think it’s going to be a good game,” Meola said. “We’re going to be ready for it.
Bethune-Cookman eliminated from SWAC Tournament
In their fifth game of the SWAC Tournament, the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats’ season came to an end with a 4-2 loss to Jackson State in the semifinals Saturday.
Bethune-Cookman advanced through the double-elimination bracket with wins over Prairie View A&M (16-1) Wednesday and Texas Southern (16-0) and Jackson State (4-3) Friday. Their first loss was an 11-6 contest with Jackson State Thursday.
In the third tournament meeting between the two, the Tigers hopped ahead in the fifth inning. After a pair of singles, first baseman Lenny Montesano whacked a three-run home run.
Montesano produced another run on an RBI single in the seventh.
The Wildcats got on the board in the eighth, when designated hitter Jose Gonzalez slammed a two-run homer. They failed to scratch across any other runs in the rest of the eighth or the ninth, as Jackson State polished off its victory.
Bethune-Cookman’s final record: 32-27.
Embry-Riddle’s national tournament run halted by Tampa
After taking the series opener 15-9 Friday, the Embry-Riddle Eagles dropped two games to Tampa Saturday to fall in the Division II super regionals.
They lost the first game of the doubleheader 15-1 and the second 13-3.
Jeremy Kennedy-Davis’ RBI double gave Embry-Riddle its lone run in the early afternoon tilt. In Game 2, it jumped ahead 3-0 in the top of the first inning on a home run by AJ Marinello. It did not score again, though, as the Spartans responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first and grabbed the lead for good in the second.
The Eagles finished the year with a 35-22 record. Their 35 victories were the most in the program’s DII history. This spring also marked their first DII super regional appearance.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: College baseball: Stetson beats Florida Gulf Coast in ASUN semifinals
