The Stetson baseball team returns home to Melching Field this week to open a short, four-game, home stand. The opening game against USF was originally scheduled to be played Tuesday evening, but was moved to a Wednesday afternoon start because of the storms rolling through central Florida on Tuesday.

The tilt between the Hatters (24-8) and Bulls (21-11) is now scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start at Melching Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3, as will the rest of the 11 home games this year. Evan Weston and Robert Goldberg will be on the call for the broadcast.

The Hatters and Bulls will square off for the second, and final, time this season. It will be the 171st all-time meeting on the diamond between the programs, which ranks as the third most between the Hatters and another program. Stetson has only played Rollins (196) and Jacksonville (171) more times than USF.

The series between Stetson and USF is as close as possible. Stetson leads the all-time series by just two wins after taking the first game this year 5-3 in Tampa. The Hatters also won the 2017 series finale 6-0 in Tampa. The Bulls won the only game played in DeLand in 2017, 8-6, exactly one year ago, on April 11. Stetson has lost its last three games played on April 11, with the last Hatters win on this date coming against Mercer, 14-10, in 2009.

The Hatters have a documented all-time record of 16-14 on April 11.

Despite Stetson's slim lead in the all-time series, USF has outscored Stetson 1,017 to 981, a margin of 36 runs.

In the game against USF two weeks ago junior Joey Gonzalez established a new career-high, since bettered, with nine strikeouts over seven plus innings. He ended up allowing three earned runs, but two of those came after a debated scoring call on a ground ball to second that was misplayed, but ruled a hit.

Brooks Wilson worked the final two innings to secure his tenth save of the year.

Stetson managed just five hits in the game, but three came against starter Baron Stuart, resulting in a pair of early runs. Junior Mike Spooner had two hits and scored two runs for Stetson while sophomore Jorge Arenas had a pair of hits and drove in three runs.

Wednesday's game will feature a rematch on the mound between Gonzalez (6-2) and Stuart (2-2).

This is the second time the Hatters will enter the matchup with USF off a series loss. The Hatters suffered their second series loss of the year last weekend at Kennesaw State, losing the rubber game of the series 4-3 in 10 innings on a fly ball lost in the sun.

Stetson pitchers allowed 39 hits in the three game series against the Owls, the most hits allowed by Stetson in any series since allowing 40 hits to the Owls during the last trip to Kennesaw State in 2016. The Hatters are now 4-11 at Kennesaw State since sweeping the Owls at Stillwell Stadium in 2007.

Offensively, seniors Nico Torino (.438) and Austin Hale (.333), along with junior Jacob Koos (.533) had solid performances last week, going a combined 20-for-46 (.435), but the rest of the Stetson lineup combined to hit just .143 (13-for-91) in four games.

In the series opener against Kennesaw State, Koos gave the Hatters' their first four-hit game of the year. Stetson had six such performances in 2017, including three by Koos. The most recent game in which a Hatter had at least four hits in a game was April 26, 2017, against USF, when Koos had five hits.

Logan Gilbert saw his streak of 16 consecutive wins without a loss come to an end in the opener at Kennesaw State. The Hatters jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the game and Gilbert retired the first 11 Owls hitters before surrendering a pair of home runs with two out in the fifth inning. Gilbert ended up allowing career-highs for hits (9), runs (8) and earned runs (6) in the game with five of the six earned runs coming with two out in an inning.

In the series against KSU, the Owls scored 12 of their 19 runs after there were two out in an inning. For the season, 58 of the 102 runs allowed by the Hatters have scored with two out (56.8 percent). By contrast, the Hatters have scored 59 of 176 runs (33.5 percent) of their runs this year with two outs.

In the only Stetson win during the KSU trip, Hatters hurlers Jack Perkins and Brooks Wilson combined to strand 15 Owls on base, including leaving the bases loaded three times in the last four innings.

In Sunday's series finale, sophomore Mitchell Senger was one pitch away from a complete-game shutout when A.J. Willoughby spoiled that with a two-out, two-run single in the ninth to tie the game at 2-2. After Stetson went back up 3-2 in the 10th, the Owls walked-off on a pop fly to right that was lost in the sun by Mike Spooner.

The Hatters will be back in ASUN action this weekend when Stetson hosts Lipscomb (14-16, 3-3) for a three-game series. The series is scheduled to feature 6:30 p.m. starts on Friday and Saturday with a 1 p.m. series finale 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.