The Stetson baseball team will open a seven-game home-stand at Melching Field on Friday night when the unbeaten Hatters host Hartford for a three-game series.
 
The games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. All three games will be broadcast on HatterVision.
 
Stetson (4-0) comes in off a Tuesday night victory over UCF while the visiting Hawks will be opening their 2020 campaign.
 
Hatters fans who attended the 2018 NCAA DeLand Regional will remember that Hartford was the Hatters' opening opponent in that tournament. The Hawks will have the same pitcher on the mound Friday night, junior left-hander Nick Dombkowski, as they did in 2018. The native of West Springfield, Mass., posted a 3-6 record last spring in 14 starts with a 4.97 ERA.
 
Stetson will have the same rotation for the second weekend of the season as the Hatters used during the opening weekend of play. Junior left-hander Chris Gonzalez will make the start on Friday. He worked five innings in the opener against Manhattan, allowing one earned run on eight hits.
 
Junior right-hander Robbie Peto, who was recognized as the ASUN Pitcher of the Week for the opening weekend of the season will make the start on Saturday night. Peto worked six no-hit innings against Air Force last week before finally allowing a hit to start the seventh. He struck out a career-high 12 batters in his seven shutout innings.
 
Hartford will counter on Saturday with junior right-hander Nathan Florence. A native of Wilbraham, Mass., Florence has not pitched in a game for the Hawks since that 2018 NCAA Regional when he started against USF. He missed the entire 2019 season with an injury.
 
Sunday's series finale is scheduled to pit a pair of freshman right-handers against each other as Stetson's Nick Durgin squares off against Hartford's Ken Turner.
 
The Hatters have gotten the new season off to a good start offensively, hitting .302 as a team with 17 extra-base hits in the four games. Freshman Brandon Hylton leads the way for Stetson with a .500 average (7-for-14), but sophomore Mark Townsend and junior Eric Foggo have also hit safely in each of the first four games this year.
 
Friday will be baseball bingo night at Melching Field and Saturday night will feature the first in a series of 15 baseball cards that will be available to fans. The first 250 fans through the gate will receive card No. 1 featuring senior third baseman Jonathan Meola. The only way to collect the entire set is to attend each of the giveaway nights during the season.
 
The second card in the series, featuring senior shortstop Jorge Arenas, will be available next Wednesday night when the Hatters host Florida.
 
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.