With just two weeks remaining in the 2017 baseball season, the Stetson Hatters are just one game out of first place in the race for the ASUN title and No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament.

The Hatters took two-of-three games from one of the league's co-leaders, Jacksonville, last week, and will host the other, North Florida this weekend. Both teams need just one win to clinch a berth in the ASUN Tournament, which will be played May 24-17 at Melching Field, but both squads have their sights set on bigger things.

All three of the games this weekend will be streamed online. The first game and the last game will be on ESPN3 with the middle contest on HatterVision.

The Hatters enter the UNF series having won four of five ASUN series so far this year. After the set with UNF, Stetson will finish the regular season with a series at Lipscomb next weekend.

Stetson comes into the weekend having won six of its last eight games, closing to within four games of .500 on the year. Even with the recent hot stretch, the Hatters have still not been able to win more than three straight games at any time this year. In fact, the last time the Hatters won as many as four straight games was last May at the ASUN Tournament in Nashville.

This weekend will feature three special occasions at Melching Field. On Friday the team will honor veterans at the annual Military Appreciation Day. Active military personnel and all veterans will receive free admission and the first 25 will receive a free Stetson baseball digital cammo cap.

Saturday will be Senior Day for the Hatters' trio of elder statesmen. Pitchers Tyler Keller and Dean Garabedian, as well as third baseman Colton Lightner, will be honored in pre-game festivities.

On Sunday, the Hatters will honor Mothers' Day by having all of the players mothers on the field during pregame to throw out ceremonial pitches to their sons.

If the Hatters want to extend their streak of seven straight seasons with a winning record at home, they will need to post a sweep of UNF and then win at least three games in the ASUN Tournament. Stetson enters play this weekend with a 13-18 mark at home. The Hatters have only had one losing season at Melching Field since the park opened in 1999, with that coming in 2009 (16-18). Stetson has an all-time record of 433-249 at Melching in 19 seasons.

Stetson's next win against a current member of the ASUN will be the 200th in school history. The Hatters enter play this weekend with a 199-183-2 mark against the seven other current league members.

The series between Stetson and UNF has been one of streaks, even though the overall record is even at 22 wins each. Stetson snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Ospreys last May when the Hatters defeated UNF in the ASUN Tournament in Nashville. Stetson had lost eight of nine, including three consecutive season series, to the Ospreys prior to that win. Prior to that hot streak for UNF, Stetson won nine-of-10 games, including three consecutive series.

For Hatters coach Steve Trimper, this will be his first encounter with North Florida as well as with Ospreys head coach Smoke Laval.

Last Weekend

Stetson took two of three at Jacksonville to put itself in position for a run at ASUN title. That series win came right down to the final inning on Sunday when the Hatters scored three times in the ninth inning to take a 3-1 victory in the rubber game. It was Stetson's first win this year in a game the Hatters trailed after eight innings.

The last time the Hatters rallied to win a game in the ninth inning was March 20, 2016, in a 5-4 victory over Winthrop.

The Hatters pitched in reverse in that Sunday game, with freshman Ryan Stark making the start and sophomore Logan Gilbert working the final five innings. Gilbert had been scheduled to start, as usual, but began feeling ill shortly before game time and had to be scratched. After cooling off and resting, he was able to get warm again and pitched five shutout innings for his eighth win of the year.

The Hatters had one of their better offensive games of the year on Saturday in posting a 17-5 victory over the Dolphins. It was the most runs in a game for Stetson since a 17-0 victory over Bethune-Cookman on April 29, 2015, and it was the most runs in an ASUN game since scoring 20 against USC Upstate on May 16, 2014. Stetson also had 34 total bases in that game, the most since that game against USC Upstate in 2014.

It was the highest scoring output against JU since a 22-run outing against the Dolphins on March 14, 2009.

Part of the offensive barrage in the game was home runs from Jack Gonzalez, Mike Spooner, Austin Bogart and Jorge Arenas. It was the first time a Stetson team produced as many as four home runs in a game since March 8, 2009, when they blasted four in a home game against James Madison.

Lightner and sophomore Jacob Koos were the standout performers for the Hatters in the series. Lightner hit .571 with four runs and four RBI while also making several run-saving plays on defense at third base. He drove in the tying run with a single in the ninth inning in Sunday's series finale. He was recognized as the ASUN Player of the Week for his efforts in the series. He is the second Stetson player to earn that honor this year, joining with Austin Hale, who won two weeks ago.

Koos hit .474 in the series, scoring six runs and driving in five. He extended his hitting streak to 15 games, including the last eight straight with multiple hits. He drove in the winning runs, including Lightner, to cap the Hatters' series win.