DELAND — As Kyle Ball dug in to start the third inning, he simply wanted to provide a spark from the bottom of the order. Little did he know, he'd step back into the batter's box again before Oklahoma State could record an out.
Safe to say, staring at an 8-0 lead on the scoreboard, Ball breathed a bit easier the next time he prepared to hit.
"Once you get a lead like that, you get very comfortable out there," Ball said. "But you don't want to get too comfortable and let your guard down."
When all was said and done, the Hatters paraded 14 men to the plate and scored 10 times on seven hits, effectively stamping their ticket to the Super Regionals. Stetson (48-11) will head to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina.
When the Tar Heels meet the Hatters they'll have to deal with a runaway train — a winner of 18 straight that's suddenly smacking the ball all over the yard.
"I was trying to say (doubters) should look at the last 20 games. I wish they would look at those averages," Hatters head coach Steve Trimper said. "I think we might have proved some people wrong. The guys stayed focused."
Ball started the outburst innocuously enough, dropping a single into shallow right field. Andrew MacNeil followed with a walk.
With two runners on, Mike Spooner initially squared up to bunt but watched the first pitch miss high. Seeing the defense cheat a tad too aggressively, Trimper called off the planned sacrifice.
"They were already set up in a (bunt) trap. We just said, 'Forget signs anymore. If they're going to be in a trap early, just swing,'" Trimper said.
One pitch later, Spooner blooped home the ice-breaker. Hitting then became contagious.
Jacob Koos squeezed a single through the right side, then DeLand Regional Most Outstanding Player Brooks Wilson opened the floodgates with a two-run double into the gap in left center. Both hitters took advantage of Oklahoma State starter Brady Basso falling behind in the count.
Eric Foggo chased Basso from the ballgame with a hard-hit single into left. Stetson rocked the sophomore left-hander to the tune of six runs on just 52 pitches.
Perhaps out of necessity, Oklahoma State turned to Ben Leeper, who claimed a 12.36 ERA in 27.2 previous innings. The results were as expected.
Leeper walked Jorge Arenas to load the bases, then served up a run-scoring single to Jon Meola. Two more Hatters came home via a throwing error, generated by a tricky chopper up the third base line by Austin Hale.
Oklahoma State made its second pitching change of the inning. Peyton Battenfield managed to record a couple of outs, ending Stetson’s consecutive on-base streak at 10 batters, but allowed the final blow as well — a rocket of a two-run double from Koos.
The inning lasted approximately 41 minutes, prompting Hatters starting pitcher Jack Perkins to jog to the bullpen in order to keep his arm loose.
"That was the first time. I figured I should do it on my own," Perkins said. "I just went down, threw some balls pretty hard and was good."
The Hatters finished only two runs shy of the single-inning, all-time program record. They plated 12 in a 2002 home game against cross-county rival Bethune-Cookman, the last time the team had 10 or more in a frame.
For a team whose identity is forged by pitching and defense, Stetson’s hitters have more than held up their end of the bargain since the middle of May. Over the last nine games, Stetson has scored 76 runs (8.4 per game) and produced six outings of at least 10 hits.
"It wasn't necessarily a relief; it was more of a fulfillment," Wilson said. "It was something we thought we could take care of from the fall when we started getting into the culture of winning and competing. I think it's something we've seen coming. It's all about playing good baseball down the stretch."
If the Hatters continue to hit that way, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the country stopping them. Certainly, nobody in the DeLand Regional could.