Stetson continues with its hectic schedule during the month of March with six more home games this week, starting with a pair of games against the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Games both nights at Melching Field are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. starts.

The Hatters will host Rhode Island for a four-game series this weekend.

Despite an eight game win streak and a 13-1 overall record on the season, the Hatters continued to be shunned by most of the national college baseball pundits. Besides the win streak and great overall record, and with the Hatters being ranked 18th according to the NCAA RPI formula, Stetson has been unable to break the cartel hold on the top 25 polls produced by Baseball America and D1Baseball.com.

The Hatters, however, have received tremendous respect from the oldest continuous national poll from Collegiate Baseball. Stetson made a six spot jump this week, to No. 12, after holding its opponents to a total of three runs in four games last week. The only true polls for college baseball are the USA Today Coaches poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll. Stetson is 34th in the coaches poll and is 28th in the NCBWA poll, cracking into the top 30 there for the first time this year.

Stetson continued its stranglehold on the ASUN Pitcher of the Week award this week, winning that honor for the third consecutive week. Sophomore Mitchell Senger was selected for the second time this year after holding Richmond to one infield hit over seven innings on Sunday with 11 strikeouts. For the season, Senger has allowed just seven hits and one earned run in 26.1 innings of work.

He leads the NCAA with 45 strikeouts, is second only to teammate Brooks Wilson in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (2.39) and is 14th in the nation in ERA (0.34). Senger is also 11th in the nation in WHIP, another category fronted by Brooks Wilson.

Besides H/9 and WHIP, Wilson also leads the nation with eight saves and is one of 12 players, including teammate Joey Gonzalez, who has pitched enough innings to qualify for the national lead in ERA and has yet to allow an earned run this year.

As a team, the Hatters are ranked first in the nation in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (4.5), WHIP (0.83) and are tied for the NCAA lead in shutouts with UCF, both teams having recorded five. Stetson is also second in the nation in team ERA (1.71) trailing only Hofstra (1.69). The Hatters are third in K/9 and strikeout to walk ratio and seventh in win percentage. In the four games last week the Stetson pitching staff allowed a total of 15 hits and exactly one earned run.

Offensively the Hatters are 13th in triples (7) and 39th in stolen bases (22).

The Hatters' current eight-game win streak is the longest since streaks of eight and nine games during the 2011 season. If Stetson is able to take both games against Army this week, it would make for the first 10-game win streak since 2007. The Stetson program has had 10 game or longer win streaks 15 times in its history. The longest win streak in program history came in 1994 when the Hatters won 17 straight games.

The two games against Army this week will be the first between the programs since a pair of games during the 1981 season as a part of the Stetson Invitational. The Black Knights took the first encounter 6-5 before Stetson won game two 13-4. The last time Stetson squared off against one of the three primary service academies was in 2002 when the Hatters defeated the Naval Academy twice in a mid-week series.

Several of the Stetson hitters who had gotten off to slow starts this season had productive efforts last week. Four of the Hatters regulars hit better than .450 during the week - Mike Spooner (.571), Nico Torino (.556), Jacob Koos (.500) and Baylen Sparks (.455) - while two others - Andrew MacNeil (.333) and Jorge Arenas (.308) - hit better than .300.

As a team the Hatters hit .325 last week with a .444 slugging percentage and a .431 on-base percentage.

Junior right-hander Joey Gonzalez will put his 17.1 scoreless innings streak on the line Tuesday night when he makes his third start of the season. Gonzalez worked seven shutout innings in each of his first two starts, wins over UCF and Wagner.

The Hatters will likely make Wednesday night's game against Army a staff game, where several pitchers work one or two innings. Stetson has seven pitchers who have combined to work just 9.2 innings so far this year and all need to get time on the mound.

Army (6-7) comes into the series this week after having been swept in a three-game series by Rutgers over the weekend in Ft. Myers. The Black Knights will face Rhode Island on Thursday at Melching Field before squaring off in a series at USF this weekend.

Army's expected starter on Tuesday, junior Jacob Carte, will be making his second start of the year. He worked four innings in his first start, allowing two runs on five hits to take the loss in a 3-2 decision at Fordham. The right-hander made seven starts during his sophomore season, posting a 2-6 record on the year. Like Stetson, Army has not announced a starting pitcher for Wednesday's game.

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.