It has been an exciting week for the Stetson baseball program. All across central Florida, the Hatters are the talk of the town.
 
The time for talking comes to an end on Friday when play in the 2018 NCAA DeLand Regional begins at Melching Field.
 
Second seeded USF (35-20-1) will take on No. 3 Oklahoma State (29-24-1) at 1 p.m. The host Hatters (45-11), the No. 1 seed in the Regional and No. 11 overall national seed, will take on fourth seeded Hartford (26-29) at 7 p.m.
 
All of the games in the DeLand Regional will be broadcast on ESPN3 with Mike Keith – play-by-play voice of the Tennessee Titans – and former University of Tennessee baseball standout Rusty Ensor on the call for the games.
 
The four teams will be vying for a chance to advance to NCAA Super-Regional play next weekend. The next step from there is the promised land for college baseball – Omaha.
 
But, before anyone can have serious dreams of Omaha, there is a Regional to host with three very talented opponents.
 
Stetson comes into its first NCAA Regional at Melching Field riding the nation's longest active win streak. The 15-game  streak is tied for the third longest in the nation this year and is tied for the second longest win streak in school history.
 
To break the program record for longest win streak, the Hatters will have to sweep through the DeLand Re­gional. The program record of 17 consecutive wins was set during the 1994 season.
 
The Hatters will be competing in their 19th NCAA Regional Tournament overall, but their first as a No. 1 seed. Stetson has an all-time record of 18-36 in NCAA Regional play.
 
The closest Stetson has ever come to advancing past the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament came in 1988 in the old six team format when the Hatters lost to Florida in Tallahassee after eliminating the host Seminoles. Stetson also reached the final day of play in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003 and again in 2011. The Hatters were eliminated by Virginia in 1996, Georgia Tech in 2000, Miami in 2001, and South Carolina in 2003 and again in 2011.
 
Stetson has faced both Oklahoma State and South Florida in NCAA play in the past. In 1997 the Hatters were sent to Stillwater, losing to OSU and Harvard in consecutive games. Stetson faced South Florida in the 1982 Mi­ami Regional, topping the Bulls 6-5, and then again in the 2002 Tallahassee Regional, losing to the Bulls 14-13.
 
While Stetson has never faced first round opponent Hartford, Hatters coach Steve Trimper is no stranger to facing the Hawks. During his previous stops as head coach, at the University of Maine (2005-16) and Manhat­tan College (1998-2005), he faced Hartford plenty of times.
 
Trimper owns an all-time record of 33-20 against the Hawks.
 
Stetson has a 1-4 all-time record against Oklahoma State, with four of those previous games having been played in DeLand. The only Stetson win in the series came during the 1985 season. The Hatters have lost four straight games to the Cowboys, with the last meeting coming back in 2004.
 
Stetson and USF are no strangers on the diamond. The teams have played 171 times all-time, which ranks as the third most between the Hatters and another program. Stetson has only played Rollins (196) and Jackson­ville (174) more times than USF. Stetson is 45-37 all-time against USF in DeLand.
 
The Hatters and Bulls met twice this year, with Stetson taking both encounters. The Hatters won the first meeting 5-3 in Tampa on March 27 with Joey Gonzalez going seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits with what was then a career-high nine strikeouts. Brooks Wilson worked the last two innings to get the save. Mike Spooner and Jorge Arenas had two hits each in the game and Arenas drove in three runs.
 
The teams met again on April 11 in DeLand and this time it was a bull pen game for both teams. Stetson used five hurlers, including freshmen Chris Gonzalez and Austin Wood, while the Bulls used seven pitchers in a game the Hatters won 5-2. The game was tied at 2-2 until the eighth inning when Stetson scored three runs, with Spooner and Arenas again doing the damage. Arenas had three hits and drove in two in that game.
 
Joey Gonzalez (8-3, 1.77) will take the ball for the Hatters in the opening game of the Regional. The junior right-hander worked six strong innings in the ASUN Tournament opener last Wednesday against NJIT, allowing just one run on five hits with six strikeouts.
 
He will be opposed on the mound by Hartford freshman left-hander Nicholas Dombkowski (6-5, 2.73). A native of West Springfield, Mass., Dombkowski dropped three of his first four outings this year before turning his season around with eight shutout innings in a win over Maine on March 24. Since that outing he has not allowed more than three earned runs in any game.
 
The Hawks are led offensively by senior Nick Campana, who is hitting .389 on the season with 10 home runs and 39 RBI. Campana also leads the team with 21 stolen bases in 27 attempts. As a team, the Hawks have hit .270 this year and are averaging 4.8 runs scored per game.
 
Play in the regional will continue on Saturday with the losing teams from Friday's game meeting in an elimination game at 1 p.m. The winning teams will square off at 7 p.m.
 
Chairback seating for the Regional is sold out for the weekend. There will be single-game general admission tickets available at the gate on a first-come, first-served basis.
 
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.