The Stetson Hatters open the home portion of their 2019 ASUN schedule on Friday night when they open a three-game weekend series against the Highlanders of NJIT.
 
The games in the series are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday with a 12:30 p.m. start on Sunday.
 
The Hatters (12-16, 2-1) enter the weekend having lost their last two games overall, including a loss in the series finale at North Alabama last weekend, snapping a 15-game overall ASUN win streak. NJIT (9-13-1, 2-4) comes into the weekend having lost two of three games in each of its two weeks of ASUN play, at Liberty and in New Jersey against Jacksonville.
 
The Highlanders, who are playing under interim head coach Robbie McClellan this season, dropped a mid-week game at Rider on Wednesday before making the trip south.
 
The only common foe between the Hatters and NJIT this year has been Manhattan. Stetson fell to the Jaspers 5-2 opening weekend while the Highlanders took a 9-7 victory in their game at Manhattan on March 12.
 
While the Hatters saw their overall ASUN win streak fall to the side last Sunday, Stetson still carries a 10-game regular season league win streak at home into the weekend series against NJIT. The Hatters also own a 9-1 all-time series lead against the Highlanders, with the only loss coming last April 22 in Newark.
 
That was the final loss for Stetson until the Hatters reached the Super Regional at UNC, a win streak that reached a school record 18 games.
 
Stetson will open the series with sophomore left-hander Chris Gonzalez (4-0, 1.83) on the mound. The defending ASUN pitcher of the week went the distance last Friday at UNA, allowing only an unearned run on six hits with no walks in going the distance for the first complete game of his baseball career.
 
Gonzalez will be opposed in the opener by NJIT junior right-hander Jared Kacso (0-3, 7.41). Kacso took the loss in the series opener last year, allowing five runs, three earned, on six hits over five innings against Stetson. He was opposed that day by Logan Gilbert, who allowed just one run on three hits over eight innings with 14 strikeouts.
 
Freshman Daniel Paret (1-0, 5.35) is scheduled to square off against NJIT junior Tyler Stafflinger (1-1, 4.10) on Saturday with the Sunday game pitting New Jersey native Robbie Peto (0-5, 5.23) against the Highlanders' Sean Lubreski (3-4, 4.63).
 

Stetson Notes

• This is just the second visit to DeLand for the NJIT baseball program. The Hatters swept the Highlanders in their only previous series at Melching Field, in 2017, outscoring NJIT in that series 20-6.
• Stetson has an all-time record of 42-13 against eight teams from the Garden State. The only Division I program from New Jersey that Stetson has never played is Fairleigh Dickinson. The most often played foe from New Jersey is Rider, which Stetson has defeated 13 times in 16 games. Stetson last faced the Broncs in 2001.
• In addition to head coach Steve Trimper, who is a native of Newton, NJ, the Stetson roster includes three players from New Jersey - senior third baseman Jonathan Meola, sophomore pitcher Robbie Peto and freshman first baseman Brandon Hylton. Unfortunately, two of those three - Meola and Hylton - are out with injuries. Peto is expected to start on the mound in Sunday's series finale.
• Trimper has a 47-28 career record against teams from his home state, including a 13-1 mark against NJIT.
• NJIT has two players on its roster from the state of Florida - freshman pitcher Darwin Rodas from Hialeah and redshirt senior catcher Edgar Badaraco from Miramar. Rodas has appeared in four games on the mound, starting one, and has no record with a 6.75 ERA. Badaraco has played in seven games, starting three, and is hitting .091 on the year.
• Errors have continued to haunt the Hatters this year. Stetson has committed a total of 49 errors in 28 games, including 12 in the last five games. The result of those errors is the Hatters have allowed 35 unearned runs this year. Stetson committed just 56 errors during the entire 2018 season, setting a school record for fielding percentage.
• In addition to the errors, the Stetson pitching staff has been its own worst enemy at times - having walked 138 batters, an average of 4.9 per game, while also hitting 43 (1.5 per game). The combination of the three has resulted in an extra 8.2 base runners per game. The 43 hit batters is just five shy of the total from last year and is on pace to break the program record of 69 set in 2008.
• The Hatters scored 10 or more runs in three consecutive victories last week, marking the first time since a four-game stretch during early April in 2009 against USC Upstate and FIU that a Stetson team has had such a run. The team had 33 hits in that three-game stretch, including nine doubles, while also drawing 19 walks.
• Senior Jacob Koos is swinging a hot bat of late, having hit safely in seven consecutive games, batting .464 (13-of-28) during that stretch. Koos set a new career-high with four RBI in the series opener at UNA and enters play tonight three hits shy of 200 for his career. With 61 career stolen bases, Koos is tied for 10th on the Stetson career list.
• Junior Jorge Arenas has also been swinging a hot bat for the Hatters, having hit safely in eight of the last nine games and 10 of the last 12, raising his season batting average 105 points, to .299, since the start of the run. Arenas has reached base safely in nine straight games.

 
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.