After a long and difficult road trip, the Stetson baseball team will return to Melching Field on Friday night to open a three-game series against ASUN leading Florida Gulf Coast.
 
The weekend series is scheduled to open at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, weather permitting. The series opener is being sponsored by Visit West Volusia. Saturday's game, the annual May 4 celebration of "Star Wars" Day, is also scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start. The first 120 fans through the gate will receive a light saber key chain.
 
Sunday's series finale is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
 
All three games during the series will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Stetson, which has lost seven consecutive games for the first time since the 2010 season, comes into the series with an overall record of 18-26. The Hatters are 7-8 in ASUN play, tied with Kennesaw State for sixth place in the race for the ASUN Tournament, which will be held at Melching Field May 22-25.
 
Stetson has not had a losing streak of more than seven games in a single season since a nine-game slide late in the 1999 campaign.
 
FGCU comes in having won six consecutive ASUN games with an overall record of 30-15 on the year. The Eagles have a two-game lead over second place Liberty in the race for the ASUN title, having posted a 12-3 record in league play. FGCU has recorded three weekend sweeps in conference play.
 
The Eagles lead the all-time series against Stetson 20-16 despite the fact that the Hatters have won seven of the last eight games between the teams. FGCU also leads the series 11-7 in games played in DeLand.
 
During the current seven-game skid, the Hatters have lost four one-run games and a pair of two-run contests. For the year, Stetson is 7-8 in one-run games and 2-3 in two-run games. During the 2018 season the Hatters were 12-2 in one-run games and 8-2 in two run games.
 
Over the last seven games the Hatters are actually hitting two points higher (.266 to .264) than their opponents and have a total of seven more hits. The problem has been the big extra-base hits. Stetson's opponents have hit 14 home runs and have four triples during the skid while Stetson has just five homers and no triples. The Hatters have left 61 runners on base during the skid while the opponents have stranded just 36.
 
Stetson has five regulars who are batting better than .300 during the losing skid, led by junior catcher Benito Varela at .385 and sophomore first baseman Eric Foggo at .360. The Hatters have had 33 more at bats with runners on base than their opponents, but have just three more hits and are batting 56 points lower in those situations over the last seven games.
 
On the mound, sophomore Robbie Peto is 0-2 with a 1.98 ERA during the skid despite having allowed just three earned runs in 13.2 innings of work. Stetson's other starters during this stretch are a combined 0-5 with an 8.69 ERA.
 
Peto has been the Hatters hard-luck starter this year. In his 11 starts Stetson has scored a total of 30 runs (2.7/game) and has scored more than three runs just three times. Peto has allowed two or fewer earned runs in eight of his 11 starts for a 1.90 ERA in those games. In his other three starts he allowed 17 ER in just 6.2 innings of work for a 22.94 ERA.
 
Hatters Notes

• In Tuesday's 6-4 loss at South Florida, sophomore outfielder Jake Murphy made his first start in the field, playing center field. Murphy, who had played in 23 games over two years as a pinch-runner and defensive substitute, walked twice, was hit by a pitch and had his first career hit, an RBI single.
• Last weekend the Hatters were swept by Lipscomb, marking the first time Stetson was swept in an ASUN series since the 2016 season, which was also against the Bisons. That team bounced back from the home sweep to end the regular season by running through the ASUN Tournament with four consecutive wins to earn a berth in the NCAA Regional.
• During the three games at Lipscomb the Hatters were outscored by a total of four runs and had the tying runs on base in the ninth inning of all three contests.
• Junior Jorge Arenas became the first player in Stetson history to strikeout 50 or more times in a season three times during the second game in Tallahassee. With 160 career strikeouts, Arenas is tied with current Winthrop head coach Tom Riginos (1987-90) for third and is four behind Rusty Beale (2000-03) for second. Arenas is just four strikeouts from tying his own school record for Ks in a season (57).
• Arenas will also hit a milestone with his next RBI, which will be the 100th of his Stetson career.
• With his ninth inning single against USF on Tuesday, Jacob Koos moved past Patrick Mazeika (2013-15) and Nick Rickles (2009-11) on Stetson's career hits list. He now stands 25th on that list with 217 career hits. He can surpass Ed Cooney (1987-90) with four hits this weekend and is seven hits from surpassing Tim Branz (1995-98) and Chris Westervelt (2001-04).
• Koos is also three runs away from 150 in his career. 

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.