Jacksonville, Fla. – When the Stetson Hatters take to the field at UNF's Harmon Stadium on Wednesday morning for the start of the 2018 ASUN Baseball Championship it will have been 31 days since the Hatters last tasted defeat.
 
The team standing in the opposite dugout on Wednesday, NJIT, is the team that handed Stetson its last loss, back on April 22 in Newark, New Jersey.
 
The Highlanders (22-23) will be looking to make a statement when they make their first appearance in the ASUN championship, but the regular season ASUN champion Hatters (41-11) will be trying to extend the nation's longest active win streak and leave no room for questions with the NCAA selection committee in advance of next week's regional selections.
 
The game between the Hatters and Highlanders is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start and will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Robert Harper and Brice Zimmerman on the call of the game.
 
Play will continue on Wednesday with No. 2 seed Jacksonville squaring off against No. 5 Lipscomb at 3 p.m. and the No. 3 Kennesaw State tangling with No. 4 seed, and host, North Florida, at 7 p.m.
 
Stetson will send junior Joey Gonzalez (7-3, 1.79) to the mound on Wednesday to open the tournament. A second team All-Conference selection, Gonzalez has been the Hatters' primary mid-week starter all year, earning non-conference wins over Florida State, UCF, USF and FIU among others.
 
Although he did not face NJIT this year, Gonzalez has three relief appearances against the Highlanders in his career. He has allowed three earned runs on five hits in just 2.1 innings in his career against NJIT, but also has two saves to his credit.
 
The Hatters hit just .250 in the series against NJIT earlier this year. Jacob Koos, who has a .385 career average against the Highlanders, had five hits in the series with a home run. Jack Gonzalez (.400), Andrew MacNeil (.350) and Austin Hale (.308) also have produced solid career numbers against NJIT.
 
Freshman Eric Foggo, who was named to the ASUN All-Freshman team, had his breakout performance against the Highlanders, banging out four hits in the series opener, falling just a double shy of hitting for the cycle in a 9-1 Hatters win.
 
Stetson needed a few innings against NJIT right-hander Sean Lubreski (4-5, 3.55) in the second game of the series before finally scoring a pair of runs in a 2-1 win. Stetson scored the runs in the 7th inning on a bases loaded walk and a ground ball. NJIT scored a single run off Jack Perkins in the bottom of the inning before Brooks Wilson came on to slam the door, retiring the last seven Highlanders for the save.
 
Lubreski is expected to get the start for NJIT on Wednesday.
 
In the series finale it was NJIT right-hander Tyler Stafflinger who quieted the Stetson bats, holding the Hatters to just one run on four hits over seven innings. He retired the final 14 batters he faced in that game before giving way to the NJIT bull pen. While the Stetson bats were quiet, the Highlanders banged out eight hits, including a pair of home runs, against Hatters' starter Mitchell Senger in the series finale, taking an 8-1 win.
 
Since that game the Hatters have won 11 straight, with four rain outs mixed in. During the win streak the trio of freshman Kyle Ball (.375), junior Mike Spooner (.345) – a second team All-ASUN selection – and ASUN Player of the Year Brooks Wilson (.341) have done the damage offensively, with Wilson accounting for 15 RBI during that stretch.
 
On the mound, Perkins is 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA while two-time ASUN Pitcher of the Year Logan Gilbert is 2-0 in three starts with 33 strikeouts during the win streak. Wilson has also dominated on the mound, picking up a pair of wins and five saves during the streak while recording 16 strikeouts in 12.1 innings of work.
 
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.