JACKSONVILLE, FL—Top-seeded Stetson topped No. 6 NJIT, 7-2, in the opening game of the 2018 ASUN Conference Baseball Tournament hosted by University of North Florida at UNF Harmon Stadium Wednesday afternoon.
Stetson, the reigning ASUN Conference regular season champions, improve to 42-11 and extend its nation-leading win streak to 12 games. NJIT, which made its first appearance in the ASUN Championship, falls to 22-24 on the season.
NJIT will return to action on Thursday at 11am and face the loser of #2 Jacksonville/#5 Lipscomb.
Hatters starting pitcher, Joey Gonzalez, an ASUN second-team All-Conference selection, pitched 6.0 innings for the Hatters to earn his eighth win of the season. In his start against the Highlanders, marked the first start against an ASUN opponent this season. Gonzalez struck out six batters and only allowed one run on five hits.
Junior RHP
Sean Lubreski, who was named to the ASUN All-Academic team, pitched 6.0 innings, letting up six hits, five runs while fanning a season-best seven Hatter batters.
Three Hatters – Andrew MacNeil (1-for-3), Brooks Wilson (2-for-4) and Jorge Arenas (2-for-4) each drove in a pair of runs in the win.
NJIT's
Jesse Uttendorfer and
Julio Marcano went 2-for-4. Uttendorfer registered one RBI while
David Marcano drove in the Highlanders second run.
Stetson got on the board in the first inning taking a 3-0 lead. Hatters Mike Spooner singled to right and then stole second base. After a walk to Jacob Koos, the ASUN Player of the Year, Brooks Wilson, drove home Spooner with an RBI single to left field to make it 1-0. The Hatters added two more runs as Jorge Arenas added an RBI single, with the third run coming on a throwing error.
NJIT got a run back in the third inning as the program's all-time career hits leader,
Jesse Uttendorfer got the first Highlander postseason hit to drive home
Tom Brady and make the score 3-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, Stetson's Andrew MacNeil hit a two-run homer to deep right center to give Stetson a 5-1 advantage.
Stetson plated single runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth for a 7-2 lead.
NJIT's run in the top of the eighth came on an RBI groundout by
David Marcano, scoring twin brother
Julio Marcano, who doubled down the right field line to begin the inning.
