Friday, May 19, 2006

Stetson rallied from a 7-1 deficit over the final three inning on their way to an 11-7 victory at Gardner-Webb to clinch the No. 3 seed at the upcoming A-Sun Championship presented by Progress Energy.

The Hatters rallied for four runs in the seventh, three coming on Braedyn Pruitt’s fourth home run of the year, to cut the lead to 7-5. Stetson then tied it in the ninth on an RBI double by Brandon Paritz and a sacrifice fly by Kevin Mierzwinski.

The Bulldogs threatened to win in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with two outs. But Adam Tindle made a game saving catch on Brock Miller’s deep fly to right to send the game into extra innings.

Stetson then loaded the bases in the top of the 10th behind a single from Brian Bocock and walks to Tindle and Shane Jordan. With two outs, Paritz hit a grounder that was bobbled by second baseman Nate MacDonald, allowing Bocock to score the go-ahead run. Pruitt then walked to force in another run, and Chris Johnson singled home two more to put the game out of reach.

In other action, Campbell clinched their postseason berth by sweeping a doubleheader from Kennesaw State at home. FAU punched their ticket with their second straight win over ETSU 8-6 in Boca Raton while Jacksonville broke the 40-win plateau with their series sweep at Lipscomb.

The winner of the ETSU-Florida Atlantic game tomorrow afternoon will claim the No. 4 seed. Campbell will be the sixth seed unless the Camels sweep the series from KSU and Florida Atlantic falls to ETSU in which case they will vault to No. 5.