New Orleans, La. -- The Hatters hit the road this weekend for a three-game series against Tulane.

Stetson comes into the weekend with a record of 8-15 on the year after dropping a 9-8 decision to Florida on Tuesday night in 11 innings. The Green Wave has also struggled to start the year, but posted wins this week over McNeese State and UL Lafayette to improve their record to 8-13.

The series opener is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. (EDT) start on Friday from Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Saturday's game is set for a 5 p.m. start and Sunday's series finale is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch. Those game times are all subject to change with a forecast calling for rain and thunderstorms throughout the weekend.

All three games will be video streamed through Tulane All-Access. The games will also be broadcast on the Hatters Radio Network with Pete Blais on the call of the action.

It will be the first time Stetson has played the Green Wave since the 1994 season, with all five previous games in the series played in New Orleans. The Green Wave leads the series 3-2. This will be the first time for Stetson to play at the newly renovated Greer Field at Turchin Stadium which reopened in 2008 after a $10.5 million reconstruction.

The series against the Tulane marks the second of four American Athletic Conference foes for the Hatters this year. Stetson dropped a 9-3 decision to Connecticut earlier this month and has three games against USF and one against UCF on the schedule for later in the year. The Hatters have an all-time record of 142-163-1 record against AAC foes.

First year Stetson coach Steve Trimper is looking for his first victory against Tulane. Trimper's teams at Manhattan were winless in nine games against the Green Wave with those games coming in 1999, 2000 and 2003. Tulane head coach Travis Jewitt is also in his first year.

Stetson has a 24-22 all-time record against teams from the state of Louisiana. Besides Tulane, Stetson has faced Centenary (9-5), UL Lafayette (2-1), LSU (4-5), New Orleans (1-4) and Southeastern Louisiana (6-4). Both Centenary and Southeastern Louisiana were members of the Trans-Atlantic Athletic Conference, which was the original name of the ASUN Conference. Trimper is 3-16 in his career against Louisiana schools.

The Hatters are coming off a hard-fought loss to nationally-ranked Florida on Tuesday night. Stetson battled back from a 4-1 deficit to force extra innings, only to surrender four runs to the Gators in the 10th. Undaunted, the Hatters rallied again with four runs in the bottom of the inning only to have Florida score the winning run in the 11th inning.

Stetson is now 1-3 on the season in extra-inning games and 2-5 in one-run games. The most one-run games in any of the previous 10 years was 17 in 2013, with an 11-6 mark in those games. Since the 2002 season, the Hatters have an overall record of 26-25 in extra-inning games. The most extra-inning games for Stetson during that time was five in 2011.

The Hatters broke out of their offensive slump in the game against Florida. Not only did Stetson have a season-high 20 hits in that game, it was the most hits in a game for the Hatters since a 29-hit performance against USC Upstate on May 16, 2014. Sophomore Jacob Koos, who was held hitless in three games last weekend against Fairfield, had a career-high four hits in the game against Florida, raising his season batting average 25 points to .311.

Koos was not the only Stetson hitter to give his batting average a boost in the game against Florida. Sophomore Jack Gonzalez had three hits in the game, bumping his average up 28 points to .316. Sophomore Kirk Sidwell and junior Austin Hale also had three hits in the game, giving their averages boosts of 19 and 38 points.

The Stetson hitters were not the only ones to shine in the game. The Hatters' six pitchers combined to record a season-high 16 strikeouts, the most since a 17 K game against Central Michigan on Feb. 21, 2015. Sophomore Joey Gonzalez made just his second career start in the game against Florida and posted career-bests for both innings pitched (4.2) and strikeouts (8). He shut Florida out for most of his outing before giving up four runs while trying to record the final out in the fifth inning.

Freshman Ryan Stark also had a strong outing on the mound but, like Gonzalez, it went south on him late. Stark posted a career-best six strikeouts over four shutout innings, but was unable to record an out when he came out for his fifth inning of work, allowing three runs on three hits.

Junior Brooks Wilson (1-2, 2.86), who will start the opening game of the series at Tulane, made his first relief appearance since his freshman season in 2015 when he came on in the 11th inning with the bases loaded to get the final two outs. He surrendered the chopper to first base that allowed Florida to score the winning run.

Wilson will be opposed on Friday by Tulane senior right-hander Corey Merrill (2-2, 5.16).

Wilson ranks fourth in the nation in total strikeouts with 51 and 19th in K/9 at 13.24. Saturday starter Jack Perkins (1-3, 3.34) is 62nd in total strikeouts (36) while Sunday starter Logan Gilbert (3-0, 1.76) is 54th (37). As a team, the Hatters are 19th in the country, averaging 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. USF leads the nation at 11.3 K/9.

The Stetson pitchers are also ranked 59th in the nation in allowing the fewest hits per nine innings. Hatters opponents are averaging 8.15 hits/9 this year. Oregon State has the national lead, allowing just 5.28 hits per nine innings.

Offensively, the Hatters are ranked 49th nationally in doubles (49) and 69th in total walks (92). Kentucky has 62 doubles entering play this weekend to lead the nation while Florida State leads in walks, having drawn 153 so far this year.