DELAND - Stetson (33-17, 19-9 A-Sun) hit four home runs including a walk-off, three-run home run off the bat of Bryan Zenchyk to lift the host Hatters past UCF (29-22, 12-13) 11-8 Saturday night in front of 2,016 fans at Melching Field at Conrad Park.
The win was the first for Stetson over UCF at Melching Field at Conrad Park in eight games. The Golden Knights are still 7-1 all-time at Melching Field vs. the Hatters.
Stetson won its 13th game this season in its final at-bat. The Golden Knights totaled 12 hits on the night, but left 11 runners left on base.
The Golden Knights came out swinging as they knocked Stetson starting pitcher Adam Townsend out of the game after just 1/3 of an inning. The big inning started with an infield single off the bat of David Mann, who later scored via a RBI-double off the bat of Clay Timpner. Dee Brown continued the first-inning fireworks with a double to right-center, scoring Timpner, giving UCF a 3-0 lead. Rich Wallace added a RBI-single to right field to score Brown to push the lead to 4-0.
Stetson answered right back with four runs of its own, all with two outs, after UCF looked to have the inning come to an end. Rich Wallace committed an error to load the bases with two outs and Stetson’s Andy Wilson made UCF pay with a grand slam over the left field fence to tie the contest at four.
The four-run first inning for both schools lasted 47 minutes.
UCF regained the lead in the second at 5-4 as Brown drove in his second run in as many innings with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Mann.
The Golden Knights added to its lead in the third as Kragt walked with the bases loaded to pad give UCF a 6-4 advantage.
Stetson cut the deficit to 6-5 in the third on the Hatters’ second home run of the game when Brian Snyder hit a solo homer to left field.
UCF scored another run in the fifth to pad the lead to 7-5. Kragt drove in his third run of the night with a sacrifice bunt.
The Hatters took their first lead of the night in the fifth with three runs. The big hit in the frame came off the bat of Wilson, who launched a two-run homer to left to put Stetson up 8-7.
The Golden Knights tied the game at eight in the eighth when Drew Butera drove a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Ryan Bear. Bear started the inning with his team-leading 19th double of the season down the left field line.
The Hatters ended things in the ninth after the first two batters in the frame reached base before Zenchyk launched the three-run home run off reliever Kyle Bono to end the contest.
Roger Lincoln (5-7) pitched 3.1 innings of relief for the win for Stetson while Taylor Cobb (4-3) pitched 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits in a losing effort.