Stetson's finest: Gilbert, deGrom each notch 10-plus K's in collegiate showdown

SEATTLE -- This pitchers’ duel was brought to you by the Stetson Hatters and the letter K.

Thursday’s matchup at T-Mobile Park pitted a pair of Florida-born Stetson alums against each other on the mound -- again -- and Logan Gilbert and Jacob deGrom did not disappoint, combining for 23 strikeouts in the Mariners’ 4-3 win over the Rangers.

“You could see that before the game even started: These guys are going to get after it, and they’re not going to make a lot of mistakes,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “They’re going to make hitters earn it.”

Gilbert earned the win with seven innings of work, allowing three runs on three hits and a pair of walks and striking out a season-high 11.

deGrom was even better -- perfect through his first five innings and cruising to 10 strikeouts before he even allowed a baserunner. The Mariners’ first hit was a Cole Young comebacker that bounced off deGrom’s glove into no-man’s land behind the mound.

The Rangers ace ultimately completed six scoreless innings, facing just one over the minimum and collecting a season-high 12 strikeouts, the most of his Texas tenure.

The combined numbers for the duo of Hatters are no less mind-boggling:

• deGrom punched out eight batters in his first three innings -- the first time he’s done that since Sept. 18, 2022 -- while Gilbert racked up seven K’s in his first three frames for the third time in his career. Together, those 15 punchouts match the most in the first three innings of a game in the past 50 years.

• By the end of their outings, the two had combined for 23 strikeouts, good for the most combined strikeouts by starting pitchers in a game since Aug. 12, 2024, between Atlanta’s Chris Sale and San Francisco’s Blake Snell (also 23).

• And for the Stetson fans out there: Per Elias, Thursday marked the first time in MLB history that two starting pitchers who entered MLB from the same college each struck out at least 10 batters in the same game.

“That was pretty fun,” Gilbert said after the game. “It’s cool that it’s matched up that way a few times this year, too. As advertised for him; he’s a tough arm to go against.”

Indeed, Thursday was the fourth matchup between deGrom and Gilbert this season; the pair faced off twice in April, then back on July 26. Fittingly, the Mariners and Rangers split the Stetson Series, with Texas taking the first two games and Seattle winning the latter two.

“I knew he was throwing the ball well,” deGrom said. “We've matched up, what, three times this year? He's been throwing the ball well, and I need to try to go out there and put up zeros and give us a chance.”

Thursday was a bounceback effort for both starters. deGrom came into the game having not finished the fourth inning on the road since June 30, with a 15.00 road ERA in the second half. Gilbert, meanwhile, became the first pitcher in Mariners history to be tagged for four homers in an inning last Friday vs. the A’s, and while he struck out 10, he left after needing 99 pitches to cover 4 2/3 innings.

Thursday was a different story, and a far more normal one for these two aces. deGrom did it all while battling groin tightness, which led to the Rangers' bullpen getting warm even with his perfect game intact in the sixth inning.

“He wanted to keep going,” Texas manager Skip Schumaker said. “Shows you where he’s at, and how tough he is, still throwing 99 mph.”

On the other side, Gilbert continued to give the Mariners the depth he couldn’t find last season, when he went seven innings just once all year. Thursday was his sixth seven-inning outing of 2026, and he crossed the finish line with a flourish, diving to corral a toss from Cal Raleigh and tag Wyatt Langford at the plate after a wild pitch.

“I went back and looked at it, and my glove went exactly where his hand was,” Gilbert said. “It’s kind of a chance thing. I’m not that good to pretend I knew what I was doing.”

The Mariners ultimately took advantage as soon as deGrom exited, with three consecutive batters reaching base off Rangers reliever Jakob Junis before Julio Rodríguez flipped the script with a three-run homer to left to put Seattle in front.

That made Gilbert the happy Hatter at the end of the day. But for seven innings, the story was a true, old-fashioned pitchers’ duel, thanks in large part to Stetson University.

“Logan was shoving. deGrom was shoving, as well,” Young said. “Just a super quick game.”