Date Posted: 5/25/2007

DeLand, Fla. - The No. 1 seed Stetson Hatters eliminated the No. 2 seed Mercer Bears 2-1 in 11 innings in the first game of day three of the 2007 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship presented by Progress Energy. Shane Jordan, who gunned down the potential leading run for Mercer in the top of the 11th inning, began the bottom of the 11th with a double down the right field line, the first hit off Mercer reliever, Justin Boyette. Jordan is now 9 hits shy of tying the all-time A-Sun career hits record. Casey Frawley layed down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Jordan over to third base. Braedyn Pruiit and Justin Bass were both intentionally walked to load the bases and set up the force play at every base. Adam Tindle who drove in the only other run for the Hatters on the day, fouled out to right field, but Shane Jordan tagged up and scored the winning run to give the Hatters a 2-1 victory.

Jake Hitchcock pitched a gem for the Hatters going 9.2 innings only allowing 3 hits and 1 earned run. The sophomore struck out 6 and walked 3.

Mercer is eliminated from the A-Sun tournament after losing their second extra inning game in a row. Stetson will play tonight at 7 p.m. versus the No. 3 seed Belmont Bruins. That game will determine the schedule for Saturday. If Belmont wins tonight, the Bruins will play the winner of Jacksonville/Gardner-Webb for the championship. Belmont would have to lose twice. If Belmont loses tonight, the Bruins will face the winner of Jacksonville/GWU for a chance to play Stetson in the tourney's 11th game for the championship. That championship game would be between Stetson, and the winner of Belmont vs. JU/GWU.

Braedyn Pruitt led off the bottom of the fourth with a double past a diving Mike Armstrong. Justin Bass grounded out to shortstop, advancing Pruitt to third base. Adam Tindle knocked a single past Michael Langley at second base for his fourth RBI of the tournament, bringing home Pruitt to give the Hatters a 1-0 lead. Jeremy Cruz grounded into what looked like could be the inning ending double play, but Cruz hustled down the line to beat the throw. Designated hitter Erich Holland singled to center field advancing Cruz to second base with two outs. Catcher, Josh Clendinin struck out swinging to end the inning.

Mercer put together a couple of hits in the top of the fifth inning. Steve Karwatt singled up the middle with one out. Casey Stuart followed by ripping a double to left field, advancing Karwatt to third on the play. Freshman Michael Langley took a Jake Hitchcock pitch the other way, grounding out to second base, allowing Karwatt to come home on the play to tie the game 1-1. Matt Crawford grounded out to first base to end the inning for the Bears. Shane Jordan walked to get on base for the Hatters in the bottom of the fifth inning. He was thrown out for the second out of the inning attempting to steal by Mercer catcher, Casey Stuart. Casey Frawley singled to right two pitches later. Braedyn Pruitt drove a ball to deep center that would have scored Frawley, but Eric Renfroe ran it down for the final out of the inning.

Eric Renfroe grounded out to first to start the sixth inning. Josh Thompson crushed what looked to be a home run over the left field fence when it left the bat. Justin Bass tracked it down at the wall leaping to record the out. Mike Armstrong grounded out to Hitchcock to end the inning. Justin Boyette relieved Boone Webster for the Bears to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. Webster went 5 innings giving up 5 hits and 1 earned run. He struck out 3 and walked 2. Boyette got Justin Bass and Adam Tindle to record the first two outs of the inning to shortstop. Bass grounded out to Billy Shaughnessy, and Tindle followed by lining out to the Mercer middle infielder. Jeremy Cruz flied out to left to end the inning.

Justin Boyette sat the Hatters down in order to send the game to extra innings. Justin Bass and Adam Tindle both struck out, and Jeremy Cruz flied out to right. The 2006 championship only had one game that went extras. This is the second game in a row in the 2007 tournament that has reached the 10th inning.

Hitchcock pitched a gem for the Hatters going 9.2 innings only allowing 3 hits and 1 earned run. The sophomore struck out 6 and walked 3. He fell 1 out shy of tying the longest outing in A-Sun tournament history set by Paul Kilimonis of Georgia Southern and Ken Marks of Centenary. Kilimonis and Marks were pitching head-to-head in 1980. His day ended with a walk issued to Steve Karwatt with two outs inthe 10th inning. Justin Dechert relieved Hitchcock and muffed a pickoff attempt, allowing Karwatt to advance to second. Casey Stuart flied out to center to end the Bears threat.

Mercer put the leadoff man on in the top of the 11th inning when pinch-hitter, Tyler Brown singled to second base. Matt Crawford sacrificed pinch-runner Richard Bentley to second for the first out of the inning. Eric Renfroe was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second. John Dortch blooped a single into center to load the bases for clean-up hitter Mike Armstrong. Armstrong hit a shallow fly to center for the second out of the inning. Richard Bentley tagged up from third base on the shallow fly and attempted to score. Shane Jordan's throw was right on the money, and Bentley slammed into the catcher Mark Rood. Rood held onto the ball, though it wouldn't have mattered. Running into the catcher is grounds for ejection in college baseball. Bentley was ejected as Rood slammed the ball onto the plate in celebration.

Shane Jordan began the bottom of the 11th with a double down the right field line, the first hit off Mercer reliever, Justin Boyette. Jordan is now 9 hits shy of tying the all-time A-Sun career hits record. Casey Frawley layed down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Jordan over to third base. Braedyn Pruiit and Justin Bass were both intentionally walked to load the bases and set up the force play at every base. Adam Tindle who drove in the only other run for the Hatters on the day, fouled out to right field, but Shane Jordan tagged up and scored the winning run to give the Hatters a 2-1 victory.

Justin Boyette went 5.2 innings in relief in the losing effort. He gave up one run and struck out 4.

Stetson improves their all-tim tourney record to 41-31. Mercer drops to 25-17.

Related Links:
 • Championship Coverage