College Park, Md. - After playing 21 consecutive games at the friendly confines of Melching Field, the Stetson baseball team said goodbye to friends, fans and family following Wednesday night's victory over FIU for the first road trip of the year.
 
The Hatters, 18-3 and ranked as high as 13^th in the national polls, open a three-game series on Friday afternoon at Turtle Smith Stadium against the Maryland Terrapins from the Big Ten. The first game of the series was originally scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, but has been bumped back to a 3 p.m. start.
 
Saturday's game is set for a first pitch at 2 p.m. and Sunday's series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Some of the Stetson players never left Melching Field following Wednesday night's game, choosing to sleep in the locker room in order to make sure they were on the bus to the airport when it pulled out at 3 a.m. Thursday morning.
 
The Hatters landed in Baltimore to a landscape some on the players had never seen – an ocean of white from a snow storm that dumped six to 12 inches of heavy, wet snow on the mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday. By the time the team arrived at the University of Maryland for a planned work out, the baseball field had been almost completely cleared by workers with snow plows and front-end loaders, but that didn't stop the Hatters from having some fun.
 
The Stetson players got in a bit of a workout before turning their attention back to the cold white stuff covering the field at the football stadium. A snowball battle ensued and, once that was over, there was some team building as the players worked together to build a snowman.
 
On Friday, the Hatters will turn their full attention to the Terrapins (10-11). For the Stetson baseball program, the trip to Maryland is the first time in program history. The Hatters and Terps have squared off five times in the past, with all five of those games having been played in DeLand.
 
The Hatters lead the series against Maryland 4-1, but the one loss came in the last meeting, which came 15 years ago. The Terrapins are scheduled to return to DeLand for a series next season.
 
Stetson has an 8-2 record all-time against schools from the state of Maryland. Of the four schools the Hatters have faced, only UMBC owns a winning record against Stetson, having won the only meeting between the schools in 1987.
 
Hatters coach Steve Trimper is 43-13 in his career against teams from the state of Maryland, but this will be his first encounter as a head coach with the Terrapins.
 
Trimper will count on his pitching staff to lead the way again this weekend. Junior All-American Logan Gilbert (4-0, 2.67) will get the ball on Friday when he goes to the mound in search of his 15^th consecutive victory without a loss. The big right-hander has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in four of his five starts this year and has allowed just three earned runs on eight hits over his last 22 1/3 innings of work.
 
Gilbert's 50 strikeouts this year not only rank seventh in the nation, but also give him an even 200 in his career. He is just 25 strikeouts away from joining senior Brooks Wilson in the Stetson career top 10.
 
The Hatters will square off against Maryland senior right-hander Taylor Bloom (2-3, 3.53) in the series opener. Bloom went the distance in his last outing, a 4-0 loss at No. 17 East Carolina. He allowed just three earned runs on five hits in that game while striking out five.
 
Saturday's game will pit Stetson junior right-hander Jack Perkins (2-1, 3.14) against Maryland sophomore left-hander Tyler Blohm (2-2, 4.94). Blohm struggled with his control against ECU last week, allowing six runs on six hits with five walks over four innings in an 18-4 shellacking.
 
On Sunday, it will be Stetson sophomore left-hander Mitchell Senger (3-0, 1.86) who will be looking for a bounce-back performance. In his last outing, against Rhode Island, he surrendered five runs on five hits with four walks in just 2 2/3 innings. Like Gilbert, Senger is tied for seventh in the nation with 50 strikeouts on the year.
 
Maryland will counter with senior right-hander Hunter Parsons (2-2, 4.20) on Sunday. Parson's last outing was a complete game performance in a 5-3 win over Bryant on March 11. He scattered 10 hits in that game, allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts.
 
Stetson Notes

• New DeLand Chief of Police Jason Umberger is a former baseball player at the University of Maryland. Umberger was a pitcher during his time in College Park and received the very first Hennessey Scholarship for best exemplifies the character, determination, courage, loyalty and positive attitude of Jim Hennessey in 1989. Umberger, who is neighbors with Hatters coach Steve Trimper, made the trip to College Park with the Stetson team for the weekend series.
• Stetson completed the longest home stand in program history on Wednesday night and celebrated with a 5-3 victory over in-state rival FIU. With the win, the Hatters improved to 18-3 on the year, which matches the start of the 2002 club, which is the best 21-game start in program history.
• The next milestone for the Hatters to go for is the fastest to 20 wins in school history. That mark was set in 2001 at 23 games, a number this years' team could match by winning the first two games of their series at Maryland. Three times in program history the Hatters have gotten to 20 wins in 24 games - 2000, 2002 and 2011.
• Since playing the first two games of the season with the same batting order, the Hatters have used a different batting order in each of the last 20 games
• In addition to having the best overall team ERA in the nation at 1.89, the Hatters also have the best bull pen ERA in the country at 1.54. Stetson relievers have allowed just a .132 batting average this year in 70 innings of work.
• Following the series at Maryland, the Hatters will play at USF on Tuesday night in Tampa. Stetson will then open a three-game series at home on Thursday, March 29, against cross-county rival Bethune-Cookman.

 
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.