DELAND, Fla. - With a decisive 9-3 victory over the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in the semifinals of the 2024 ASUN Baseball Championship, the Stetson Hatters have advanced to the finals for the first time since 2019. Sophomore shortstop Lorenzo Meola powered the Hatters with a pair of home runs to keep his bat hot. The pitching staff stranded 12 FGCU runners on base and struck out five, ensuring Stetson never trailed.
"We played with some confidence. First off, utmost respect for Coach Tollett and Gulf Coast, every year we go at it and it's always a competitive, friendly rivalry, they're a very well-coached club. Either one of us could've won this but I think the big difference was that we were able to get some two-out RBIs and they weren't."
Senior Chris Shine, now 3-3 on the year, earned the win in relief, extending the Hatters' season record to 39-20. Shine delivered 1.2 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three, including a critical bases-loaded escape in the fourth inning and another punchout with a runner on third in the fifth.
TJ Melani made his first career start for Stetson, holding FGCU scoreless over 3.1 innings, allowing four hits and one walk. Cole Stallings secured a 3.1 inning save, his 11th of the season, yielding two runs on three hits with one strikeout and no walks.
"It was unbelievable, Melaniwas awesome," said Trimper."Then Shine came in, did his job. It usually never goes according to plan, today is one of the first times that it all went according to plan. It was exactly what we wanted to do with our bullpen."
Offensively, the Hatters were once again led by Meola, who went 2-for-4 on the day with a pair of home runs andfour RBIs. It was his 21st multi-hit game of the year and his 14th game with multiple RBIsas he continues to lead the club with 56 runs batted in. This is not the first time Meola has belted two homers in a contest, last accomplishing the feat on May 14 against #10 Florida State.
Sophomorefirst basemanLandon Moran put together two hits in three trips to the plate with a double and a walk. Designated hitter Brandon Hylton also made his name known with a towering home run in his first at-bat.
The Hatters struck first in the bottom of the second inning when Hylton crushed a two-run homer to dead center field, plating Moran, who had drawn a leadoff walk. Hylton's blast clocked 108 mph off the bat and traveled 431 feet, hitting the top of the batter's eye.Trimper noted, "If you go back and look at the stats, when we score first, we usually win so for us, it just got momentum swinging our way and it's really nice when you get to play with a lead."
In the third inning, Moran extended the lead to 3-0 with a scorching RBI double down the right field line with two outs.
FGCU scored a run in the sixth, but Meola responded with a solo shot off the old scoreboard in deep left field, making it 4-1.
The Hatters then broke the game open with a five-run inning. With two outs, junior catcher Gio Cueto ripedan RBI single through the left side, scoring Kyle Jones, who had reached on an error. Moran followed with an RBI single to center, bringing in Logan Hughes and prompting a pitching change. After seeingjust two pitches, Meola then launched a three-run homer 399 feet to right field, his second of the game and ninth of the season, extending the lead to 9-1.
"In my first at-bat, I kind of chased a little bit, but the difference in the past couple weeks is I've been laying off pitches," said Meola. "I dialed it in for the next couple of at-bats, got good pitches to hit in the hitters' counts, and did some damage to them."
The Eagles added two more to their final in the ninth inning but the Hatters would hold on to secure the 9-3 win.
Reflecting on Stetson's postseason success after defeating both Austin Peay and FGCU, Meola stated, "We all just had that fire from the previous series and we had this marked on our calendar. We wanted these games and it showed, it paid off and now we're in the Championship."
Stetson played a phenomenal defensive game with multiple highlight worthy plays all across the diamond, from Cueto throwing out a runner at third after a wild pitch ricocheted off the backstop to Meola makingdazzling plays at short. All pale in comparison to the diving catch by Moran down the right field line in foul territory. The sophomore first baseman dove across the tarp along the side wall to make the catch, reminiscent of Jon Meola's catch in the 2018 NCAA Regionals when he lunged into Oklahoma State'sdugout to make the catch.
Stetson will face Kennesaw State in the finals, seeking redemption after an earlier pool play loss to the Owls. The teams previously met on this field during the regular season, with the Hatters winning two out of three games. The ASUN Championship final is scheduled for 1:00 PM at Melching Field at Conrad Park, with coverage on ESPN+ and live stats available at GoHatters.com.
Looking ahead to the championship game, Meola shared the team's mindset: "Just keep playing good baseball, pitching well and timely hitting and that's all we need and we'll be good to go. And the guys and the bench, they know how to get it going." Trimper added to that saying, "It'll be twogood teams going at it. We're just going to control what we can control and try to pitch well and play nine innings of complete baseball."
About Stetson University Athletics:Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being.THE HATTER PURPOSEis to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visitGoHatters.com/HATS.
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