After sweeping their way through the Westin Lake Mary Invitational over the weekend, the Stetson baseball team will return to action tonight at Melching Field against Wagner College.
 
The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start. A contest between Virginia Tech and Central Michigan will precede the Stetson game, starting at noon.
 
The Hatters (9-1) will be looking to match the start of the 2011 squad with a win. That team opened with a 10-1 record before eventually posting a 43-20 record with an ASUN title and NCAA Regional trip to Columbia, SC. The only season in Stetson history that featured a better start was 2002. The Hatters started that season at 14-1 and 18-2.
 
Wagner (3-7) comes into the game having lost its last five games, including the last three by a combined score of 40-15. The Seahawks had two chances over the weekend to beat a UCF team that downed top-ranked Florida on Tuesday. The Knights walked-off with a 6-3 victory on Friday before scoring eight runs in the eighth inning of a 10-8 victory on Saturday.
 
The Sehawks dropped an 18-7 decision to Virginia Tech on Tuesday afternoon at Melching Field.
 
This will be the first meeting between Stetson and Wagner on the diamond. The Hatters have a 4-1 all-time record against teams from the Northeast Conference. Stetson coach Steve Trimper is 5-5 in his career against Wagner and is 25-13 in his career against Northeast Conference programs.
 
This will be the first of two athletic contests between the schools this week. The Stetson lacrosse team is in Staten Island, NY, to take on the Seahawks on Thursday morning at 11 a.m.
 
The Hatters will send junior right-hander Joey Gonzalez (2-0) to the mound to start against the Seahawks. In his first start this year he pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits, in a 1-0 victory over UCF. He earned his second win of the year on Saturday with 3.1 shutout innings of relief against Central Michigan.
 
Stetson pitching held the three teams in the tournament over the weekend to a combined .141 batting average and added 36 strikeouts to their season total of 126. For the season opponents are hitting just .156 against the Hatters.
 
Senior catcher Austin Hale, who continues to lead the Hatters in hitting with a .320 average this season, was named Tuesday, for the second straight year, to the Johnny Bench Award Watch List. The award is presented annually to the top catcher in college baseball.
 
Wagner is expected to counter on the mound with junior left-handed pitcher Keaton Freire (0-0). A native of Downey, California, has appeared in three games in relief this year, including 2.1 innings of work on Saturday against UCF, allowing a run on three hits. Freire arrived at Wagner this year after spending two years at Santa Ana College where he appeared in 27 games, making just two starts.
 
The Seahawks' roster including three players from Toms River, NJ, the same home town as Stetson's Jonathan Meola, but only one of the three attended the same high school as Meola. Junior infielder Will Johnson was teammates with Meola at Toms River East High.
 
Stetson moved up to No. 18 in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll but have not yet been able to break into any of the other four major polls - Baseball American, D1Baseball.com, USA Today or NCBWA. The Hatters did receive votes in the USA Today and NCBWA polls for a third straight week.
 
The Hatters enter week four of the season ranked 19th in the nation in ERA, first in fewest hits allowed per 9 innings (4.8), third in shutouts (3), fifth in K/BB ratio (4.34), third in K/9 (12.6) and first in walks + hits per IP (WHIP) at 0.86.
 
Individually, Brooks Wilson and Joey Gonzalez are tied for first in the nation in ERA, Wilson is second (1.69), Mitchell Senger is 16th (2.79) and Gonzalez is 54th (4.35) in hits allowed per nine innings, Austin Hale is 22nd in sacrifice bunts (3), Wilson is first in saves (5), Senger (34) is tied for second and Gilbert (33) is fourth in strikeouts, Senger (15.83), Gilbert (15.36) and Wilson (14.34) are 13th, 16th and 28th in strikeouts per nine innings.
 
Following the game against Wagner, the Hatters will open a three-game series against Richmond (7-4) on Friday night. The games against the Spiders are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
 
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.