One bad inning sends Hatters to 6-1 loss at FSU

The Stetson Hatters went into Tuesday’s game at No. 12 Florida State unsure about it pitching, but it was defense and mental mistakes that was the team’s undoing in a 6-1 loss to the Seminoles.

For six innings, pitching dominated the game. Stetson juniors Kevin Fagan and Josh Thorne had limited the Seminoles (31-12) to just one run on seven hits. On the other side, FSU senior left-hander Bryant Holtmann held the Hatters (21-21) to just one run on six hits.

But, in the seventh, Stetson’s defense opened the door to a big inning thanks to a pair of errors.

“It goes deeper than one bad inning,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “We had a base runner not know how many outs there were and took off on a fly ball and ended the inning. We had two runners on in the seventh when it was still 1-1, put the bunt on and the hitter couldn’t get the bunt down. We wanted to be better from the neck up here tonight and we certainly weren’t.”

John Sansone opened the Seminoles’ seventh inning with ground ball to short, but Stetson first baseman Will Mackenzie dropped the throw from Tyler Bocock to start the problems.

Thorne (3-1) then walked All-American D.J. Stewart before getting a fly ball out that moved both runners into scoring position. After intentionally walking the next hitter to load the bases, Thorne got a ground ball to third, but Josh Powers’ throw home pulled Patrick Mazeika off the plate, allowing a run to score.

Thorne then walked Ben DeLuzio to force in a second run before giving way to sophomore Frankie Romano. FSU’s Taylor Walls greeted Romano with a bloop single to right-center, scoring a third run.

Stetson closer Tyler Warmoth came on to get the final two outs of the frame, but the damage was done.

FSU tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning. Sansone led off the frame with a double down the left-field line off Warmoth. Tyler Keller came on in relief and got a strikeout before an intentional walk, and then an unintentional walk, loaded the bases.

Keller appeared on the verge of getting out of the inning with no damage after getting the second out on an infield fly, but DeLuzio – who reached base all five times at the plate, with three hits – ripped a double down the line to score two. Pinch runner Nick Graganella tried to score from first on the plate, but Bocock’s relay throw to the plate was perfect to cut him down.

Reliever Dylan Silva (6-1) picked up the win for the Seminoles with two no-hit innings of relief.

FSU got the scoring started in the third inning off Fagan with three singles, the last by Quincy Nieporte to plate Josh Delph.

Stetson got that run back on the first pitch of the sixth inning when Cory Reid hit his fourth home run of the year.

“We made mental errors and we gave away outs,” Dunn said. “We battled, but made just enough mistakes to give a team that good a chance to take advantage. The difference is they took advantage when we made our mistakes.”

The Hatters will return to action this weekend with a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series at Jacksonville.

Tallahassee, Fla. – The Stetson Hatters went into Tuesday’s game at No. 12 Florida State unsure about it pitching, but it was defense and mental mistakes that was the team’s undoing in a 6-1 loss to the Seminoles.