Sophomore Mitchell Senger was only focused on one thing Sunday afternoon – getting a victory.

If he had to throw a no-hitter and strikeout 16 in the process, so be it.

The native of Boca Raton was dominant all day, allowing just one walk while hitting two batters. His Stetson teammates put together a three-run outburst in the seventh inning, and that was more than enough in a 3-0 Stetson victory to clinch the weekend series win over George Washington.

The no-hitter was the fifth in Stetson baseball history and the first since Chris Byrnes no-hit Rider College in 1986. Other no-hitters in Stetson history were by Bill Rhoden vs. Yale (1970), John Colvard vs. Ohio State (1973) and Jim Fry against Cornell in 1980.

For Stetson, the performance helped erase the memory of a poor performance on Saturday night. The Hatters improved to 6-1 on the year while dropping the Colonials to 1-5.

Senger (2-0) never really faced any major issues during the game, throwing just 109 pitches despite all the strikeouts. He hit a batter in the second inning, but got a strikeout and a pop up to end that frame. He allowed a two-out walk in the third, but then got a strikeout to end that inning.

The final GW player to reach base was Steven Barmakian in the sixth. He was hit by a pitch, but was then promptly thrown out by Austin Hale trying to steal. Senger retired the final nine hitters to complete his gem, needing just 29 pitches get get through the final three innings.

The final out was on a fisted pop-up behind short that Stetson’s Jorge Arenas easily squeezed to secure the win.

It was Arenas in the seventh inning who also delivered the biggest hit of the game. GW starter Nathan Woods (0-1) almost matched Senger through the first six innings. Andrew MacNeil got things started with a one-out single in the seventh. After a fly out and a walk, Arenas delivered a two-run triple to give Senger all the support he needed.

After a pitching change and another walk, Hale gave the Hatters an insurance run, plating Arenas with a single to left off Will Kobos. Hale had two of the six hits in the game for the Hatters.

Stetson will have this week off before opening play in the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational next Friday night, March 2. The Hatters will host Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. on the first day of the tournament. Central Michigan and Purdue are scheduled to square off in the tournament opener on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.

-GoHatters.com