Stetson starter Logan Gilbert served Maryland baseball center fielder Zach Jancarski a steady dose of breaking pitches to strike out the senior to end the fifth inning, stranding two runners and erasing the Terps’ best chance to climb back into Friday’s game.
To lead off the game, the reigning Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Year blew away Jancarski with his mid-90s fastball. Gilbert didn’t allow a hit until shortstop AJ Lee’s single in the fifth. Throughout his 8 1/3 innings, Gilbert’s fastball exploded toward the plate, and the 6-foot-6 hurler’s off-speed pitches buckled the Terps batters.
With numerous radar guns aimed at him, Gilbert, a projected top-10 pick in this year’s MLB Draft, minimized damage in the fifth inning and stifled a Maryland offense that had seemed to break out of its slump with an 11-run outing Wednesday.
Behind its star pitcher, Stetson won the series opener, 12-3, as Gilbert racked up double-digit strikeouts for the fifth time this year.
“There’s a reason somebody’s going to pay him a lot of money here in a couple months,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “We just had to play a little bit of a cleaner game to beat a guy like that.”
The Terps managed four hits against the Perfect Game Preseason First Team All-American, two of which came from left fielder Marty Costes and Lee in the fifth to set up Maryland’s first score.
And with minimal room for error dueling the ace of a Stetson pitching staff that leads the country in ERA and WHIP, Maryland starter Taylor Bloom couldn’t keep the Terps close.
Second baseman Nick Dunn faced Gilbert last summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League, and Costes observed from the bench that outing. In the August matchup, Dunn struck out in the first inning and hit an infield single in the second before Gilbert was pulled early.
On Friday, Maryland (10-12) couldn’t find any of the success the Brewster Whitecaps had against Gilbert.
Costes watched over his shoulder as Gilbert walked off the mound in the second. Costes laid off Gilbert’s high fastball the pitch before, but instead of the expected breaking pitch, Gilbert (5-0, 2.57 ERA) froze Costes with a second fastball to strike out the junior.
“The fastball’s really, really good,” Vaughn said. “He’s long. I don’t know how tall he is but where he’s letting go of the baseball is about 50 feet [from the plate], and it jumps pretty good out of his hand.”
With Gilbert dealing, the Stetson (19-3) lineup manufactured runs early and often. In the first, center fielder Jacob Koos doubled off Bloom and two pitches later, right fielder Mike Spooner drove him in with a sacrifice fly after a bunt moved Koos to third.
Consecutive errors from third baseman Tommy Gardiner and first baseman Kevin Biondic set up the Hatters’ two-run third inning, and Bloom (2-4, 4.04 ERA) was bumped from the mound after completing 6 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and five earned runs.
“Neither one [of the errors] were by any means easy plays,” Vaughn said. “But again, to beat a really good team and to beat a really good arm, we’ve just got to … have a little tougher at-bats.”
The Hatters piled on five runs off left-hander Grant Burleson in the ninth, and Gilbert worked 8 1/3 innings, striking out 10 batters and allowing two runs as Maryland dropped the sixth game of its last seven.
“He was pretty good at just mixing different pitches in different counts,” Lee said. “He’s a good pitcher. He’s a draft prospect for a reason.”
