Wednesday, May 23, 2007

DeLand, Fla. - The top-seeded Stetson Hatters beat the No. 6 seed Lipscomb Bisons 4-3 in the final game of day one of the 2007 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship presented by Progress Energy. Adam Tindle then came through with the big hit, doubling down the left field line to bring in Casey Frawley and Braedyn Pruitt to give the Hatters the 4-3 lead. Corey Kluber threw 134 pitches in 8 innings of work to earn the win. Kluber struck out 12 batters and allowed 3 earned runs. Freshman, Justin Dechert closed out the game, filling in for a sick Robbie Elsemiller.

Stetson will advance to play No. 4 seed Jacksonville in what is an elimination game for the Dolphins at 3 p.m. Thursday. Lipscomb will play No. 5 seed Gardner-Webb at 11 a.m. Thursday in an elimination game for both teams.

Lipscomb's Ben Williams led off the game with a single to left field off A-Sun pitcher of the year Corey Kluber, then proceeded to steal second(20) and third base(21), reaching third with one out in the inning only to be stranded. Shane Jordan led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, making him 11 hits shy of 1st place on the Atlantic Sun career hits list. He moved to second base on an error, then came home to score on a Casey Frawley single.

Ryan Wilkins led off the top of the second inning with a triple to the right field wall. Wilkins came home on an RBI groundout by Branden Cadavid to tie the game at 1-1.

Andrew Nickerson walked for the Bisons in the top of the 5th inning. Ben Williams singled him home to give the sixth seeded Bisons a 2-1 lead. Williams later stole his third base of the game and 22nd base of the season in the inning. Williams' three stolen bases ties an A-Sun tournament record. Chris Abner of Georgia Southern stole three bases versus UALR in 1990.

Shane Jordan led off the Hatters sixth inning with a single, which brings him within 10 hits of first place on the A-Sun career hits list. Casey Frawley layed down a sacrifice bunt to move Jordan to 2nd base. Braedyn Pruitt then walked to put runners on first and second base for left fielder Justin Bass. Bass popped out to first base for the second out of the inning. Adam Tindle worked a walk from Rex Brothers to load the bases with two outs for the designated hitter, Brian Pruitt. Brothers struck out Pruitt to get out of the jam and preserve the Bisons 2-1 lead through six innings of play.

Corey Kluber kept the Hatters close after the Lipscomb seventh inning by mowing down Branden Cadavid and Allen Bolden. He issued a walk to Ben Williams, but Josh Clendenin gunned down Williams on his fourth attempted steal of the night to end the inning.

Rex Brothers gave up a one out single to Josh Clendenin in the bottom of the seventh inning putting the tying run on base, but pinch hitter Erich Holland grounded into the inning ending double play.

First team all-conference catcher Caleb Joseph padded the Lipscomb lead with the tournaments first home run. Joseph launched one over the left field fence off Stetson starter Corey Kluber to give the Bisons a 3-1 lead midway through the eighth.

The Hatters put the first two batters in the eighth inning on to end freshman Rex Brothers night. Brothers hit Shane Jordan with a pitch and walked Casey Frawley before exiting. Brandon McClurg relieved Brothers and gave up a first pitch single to Braedyn Pruitt to load the bases with 0 outs. McClurg looked as if had induced Justin Bass into a fielder's choice force out at home, but Branden Cadavid's throw home was wild, allowing Shane Jordan to close the gap to 3-2. Adam Tindle then came up with a double down the left field line to bring in Casey Frawley and Braedyn Pruitt to give the Hatters a 4-3 lead.

Aaron Crittenden grounded to first base, and Ryan Wilkins went home with his throw to nab Adam Tindle at the plate for the first out of the inning. The inning ended when Adam Tindle was gunned down at the plate attempting to score on a Jeremy Cruz fly out.

Brothers went 7 innings for the Bisons, allowing 2 runs, 0 earned on 4 hits. He struck out 2 and walked 5.

Gardner-Webb was the last No. 6 seed to beat the No. 1 seed, doing it in 2003. GWU went on to lose their next two games. Jacksonville knocked off the top seed in 2003 and went on to win the championship. Campbell was the last No. 6 seed to win in their tournament debut, beating UCF in 2000.

Lipscomb loses their first ever conference game to go to 0-1 all-time. Stetson improves to 40-30 in A-Sun tourney play.