Nashville, Tenn. – Four pitches into Thursday's series opener at Lipscomb it was all systems go for the Stetson Hatters in their pursuit of an ASUN title.
 
Unfortunately, Austin Hale's two-run home run produced the only runs of the night for the Hatters. Lipscomb starter Jeffrey Passantino (4-2) slammed the door on Stetson for the rest of the night, and the Bisons were able to scrape up just enough offense to take a 3-2 win.
 
It was Stetson's sixth one-run game in the last seven and evened the Hatters' record in those games at 8-8.
 
With the loss, the Hatters (25-27, 13-6) saw their five-game win streak come to an end and, more importantly, saw their chance at taking the ASUN regular season crown for the first time since 2011 made much more difficult to achieve. League-leading Jacksonville made sure of that with a 5-4 win in 11 innings at North Florida, giving the Dolphins a two game lead with two to play.
 
Lipscomb (27-24, 9-10) snapped a five game skid with the win. It was the Bisons' fifth straight victory over Stetson.
 
"You can go back to almost every Friday night game this year, they have all been close because there is such good pitching in this league," Hatters coach Steve Trimper said. "Their guy did a great job. We wanted to attack his fastball, and we started out doing that, but then he settled in."
 
After Hale's home run in the first inning, Passantino retired 13 of the next 14 Stetson hitters. He allowed just two more base runners – a second inning hit for Colton Lightner and a fifth inning hit from Ben Rowdon – over his eight innings of work. He struck out eight.
 
Stetson starter Brooks Wilson (4-6) got off to a better start than his counter part, but then ran into trouble in the one inning that has hurt him all year – the sixth. Only one of the two runs he allowed in the inning was earned, but that upped his season ERA in the frame to 8.18.
 
Wilson had not allowed a hit until Michael Gigliotti led off the sixth with a double to right center. After getting an out, Cade Sorrells blooped a hit into shallow right and advantage of an ill-advised throw home to take second. Zeke Dodson's ground ball scored Gigliotti and, after a walk, Jake Perry reached on an error, allowing Sorrells to score, knotting the game at 2-2.
 
"Brooks pitched well enough to win this game, but this is one of the first defensive breakdowns we have had in a long time," Trimper said. "Letting their guy take the extra base and then the ball with two out that scored the tying run."
 
The Bisons were able to take the lead in the eighth inning after Lee Solomon reached on a one-out infield single to second. Lipscomb got a sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position, and then another infield single, this one by Dodson that was almost caught by Wilson, gave Lipscomb runners on the corners with two out.
 
Wilson almost got out of the inning, but his breaking ball to Hunter Hanks for a strikeout was so good that it ricocheted off Hale's mask far enough for the winning run to score.
 
"That was just one of those freak things because Austin blocks almost everything back there," Trimper said.
 
Stetson got a leadoff walk in the ninth inning, but Lipscomb closer Denton Norman got a strikeout and a double play to close out the game and pick up his sixth save of the year.
 
"We just never got the big hit tonight, even though we probably hit the ball harder than they did," Trimper said. "There were only one or two hard-hit balls in the game. They made a nice play on a ball Rowdon hit and on a line drive by Andrew MacNeil that was hit to the gap. That could have been another run for us.
 
"It is just Friday night baseball in a good conference and we are coming down to the wire. You are seeing tight games all over the league, and those games are won with pitching and defense. Tonight, our defense broke down a little. We just have to come back and try to win these next two to try to win this conference. That is what we have been thinking about all along."
 
Wilson posted his fourth complete game of the year for Stetson and finished with seven strikeouts, giving him 122. He surpassed Corey Kluber's 117 from 2007 to move into fifth on the Stetson single-season strikeout list. He is just 10 Ks behind the school record of 132, set by Lenny DiNardo in 2000. Wilson's second strikeout of the night was also the 500^th of the year for the Hatters, the first time any Stetson team has ever hit that mark.
 
The Hatters will try to even the series on Friday when the teams square off in the second game of the weekend. That game is again scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
 
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.