A pair of freshmen from south Florida came up big for Stetson Tuesday night, Feb. 23, at Melching Field as the Hatters took a 5-3 victory over visiting Siena.

The Hatters evened their season record at 2-2 with the win while dropping the Saints to 0-4. The teams will square off again on Wednesday night in a game scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.

Freshman shortstop Matt Morales had three hits in the game for Stetson, including a pair of doubles, drove in two runs and scored another. His double in the sixth inning broke a 2-2 tied, driving in a pair of seniors, John Fussell and Jack Machonis.

That gave the Hatters enough of a cushion as another freshman, Joey Gonzalez pitched 2.1 innings in relief of senior starter Adam Schaly to get the victory. He struck out five in his relief outing to earn his first collegiate victory. Schaly also tied a career-high with five strikeouts, but a blown double play in the sixth inning cost him a chance to get the win.

“He had a couple of minor things that hurt him,” Hatters head coach Pete Dunn said of Schaly. “He gave up a couple of 0-2 hits and we have been harping on our catchers to get off the plate on an 0-2 count, make the hitters chase. For the most part he pitched ahead. He didn’t let anything snowball on him and kept it close.”

Gonzalez came on in relief in the fifth and took the game to the ninth before giving over to junior closer Walker Sheller.

“Sheller needed to get back out there because he first outing, with him being so rusty, he needed to get back out there,” Dunn said. “We could have left Joey out there to finish, but that is Walker’s role. It was a close opportunity and we know that is what he is going to do for us. We needed to get him back out there to get the save.”

The Saints got on the board first in the second innings when Jordan Folger led off with a double and then scored on a single by Brian Kelly. Schaly shut down any further scoring with a pair of strikeouts and a ground ball.

The Hatters answered in their half of the frame when Will Mackenzie led off with a single to right, but advanced all the way to third when the ball got past right fielder Fred Smart. Fussell followed with a ground ball to tie the game.

Siena went back in front in the fifth when Dan Swain blasted a solo homer to left, but the Hatters answered again in the bottom of the inning when Morales led off with a single, moved up on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a hit by his high school teammate from Wellington, Fla., Jacob Koos.

“We needed a leadoff hitter and, as long as Koos keeps swinging the bat and getting on base, we are going to leave him there,” Dunn said. “Freshmen are wide-eyed early and I think that was the case for Morales opening weekend. They seem to have settled in. They played together all through high school. Morales is going to hit down in the lineup, but he showed tonight that he can be productive in that role. That is what you need at the bottom of the order.”

The Hatters took the lead for good in the sixth on the Morales double to score Fussell and Machonis. Stetson added an insurance run in the seventh when Vance Vizcaino led off with a single, stole second and scored on another Fussell hit.

“We knew last year that John was a really good offensive player, but he has worked very hard to improve his defense so that he cane be a two-way guy and play in the outfield,” Dunn said of Fussell, who is hitting a team best .438 so far this year.

Siena was able to get within two runs in the seventh when Phil Madonna struck out on a breaking ball in the dirt from Gonzalez that got away from catcher Austin Hale. Consecutive singles by Swain and Bishop drove in the run before Gonzalez struck out the last two hitters to end the inning.

“We are happy with the win tonight and with the way the pitchers did they job, but we have blown a couple of double plays that could have gotten us out of an inning,” Dunn said.

“We are going to have a good team because I know we are going to pitch well. Freshmen are going to play a huge role for us this year. Those guys, combined with the veterans, once we work out the kinks we are going to have a pretty good club.”

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