After completing a season-opening eight-game home stand, the Stetson baseball team will venture onto the road for the first time in the 2017 season when they travel to Daytona Beach to square off with their Volusia County rivals from Bethune-Cookman.

The game at Jackie Robinson Ball Park is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and will be broadcast live on WSBB AM with Pete Blais and Evan Weston on the call of the action. Fans can also enjoy an "All-You-Can-Eat" Picnic at the game as part of a promotion with the Daytona Tortugas. Fans who purchase a special $15 ticket to the game will be able to get all the hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, popcorn and soda they want from 5:30 until 6:30 p.m. For students with a valid ID, the cost is just $10.

The Hatters (4-4) come into the game after taking two-of-three from High Point over the weekend in a closely contested series. All three games were decided by one run, two in extra innings. The series finale was a 1-0 Hatters win.

The Wildcats (4-2) opened the season with a four-game win streak, sweeping Boston College on the opening weekend before taking their series opener at Florida Gulf Coast last weekend. The Eagles came back to take the final two games of that series.

Stetson is expected to send freshman left-hander Austin Bogart to the mound for his first collegiate start. Bogart, who also starts in the outfield, has made two relief appearances on the mound so far this year, but has surrendered four runs in just 1.1 innings of work. 

The Wildcats will counter with freshman right-hander T.J. Densmore. A native of Sunrise, he earned his first collegiate win in a relief appearance against Boston College, allowing a run on three hits over two innings. He also saw action in relief against FGCU, allowing a run on two hits over 1.1 innings.

Stetson Notes

• In five games last week the Stetson pitching staff recorded 60 strikeouts, an average of 12 per game, in 47 innings of work. All three weekend starters - junior Brooks Wilson (12), sophomore Jack Perkins (9) and sophomore Logan Gilbert (10) - established new career-highs for strikeouts.
• Wilson not only posted a career-high for strikeouts, he also pitched eight no-hit innings against a High Point team that came into the weekend among the national leaders in extra-base hits and home runs.
• The Panthers hit just .199 for the weekend against Stetson.
• The Hatters hit just .226 as a team in the five games last week. Only freshman Ben Rowdon (4-10) and sophomores Jack Gonzalez (3-9) and Jacob Koos (6-19) managed to hit better than .300 for the week.
• Stetson has played the last six games with just one healthy catcher on the roster. Preseason All-ASUN selection Austin Hale, a junior, aggravated his left, non-throwing, shoulder on a swing in the second game of the year and has not yet been medically cleared to return.
• Senior backup Jorge Flores has been out of action since early in camp with a right shoulder issue and freshman Garrett Capman has been out with an ankle injury. That has left true freshman Chris Tidwell to fend for himself without a net.
• Tidwell caught every inning for six games over an eight day stretch, including a pair of extra-inning affairs.
• The only potential backup behind the plate for the Hatters has been junior second baseman Nico Torino, who served as a backup catcher in junior college, but only caught one inning during preseason intra-squad scrimmages.
• So far this year Stetson's freshmen have combined for 27 hits in 109 at bats for a .247 average. They have four doubles, a triple, a home run and 14 RBI.
• On the mound the youngsters have worked 17.1 innings with a 4.15 ERA and 13 strikeouts.
• Sophomore Mike Spooner was the first Stetson player to hit a home run this season. His two-run shot in the third inning of the second game against Siena put the Hatters in the lead for good.
• Two others joined the home run club during the High Point series. Sophomore Jack Gonzalez hit his first career homer in the game on Friday and freshman Austin Bogart hit his first in Saturday's win.
• The Hatters enter the week with 1,998 all-time wins in program history, tied with Penn State in the race to become the 65th program in Division I history with 2,000 wins.
• The Hatters will be back home at Melching Field this weekend to host the annual Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational. Play in the tournament will begin on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. when Connecticut takes on Western Michigan. The Hatters will host Saint Joseph's in a game scheduled for 7 p.m.