The Stetson baseball team returns home to Melching Field on Friday night to play host to defending Big Ten champion Ohio State on the first day of play in the Stetson Invitational.
 
The Hatters (9-2) come in on a roll after posting back-to-back shutouts wins. The Buckeyes (3-6) have gotten off to a slow start this year, including dropping two of three games last weekend at Lipscomb.
 
Play in the round-robin tournament will get started at 12:30 p.m. on Friday when Harvard (0-3) from the Ivy League takes on Fairfield (0-6) from the Metro Atlantic (MAAC).
 
Fans who enjoy pitching, especially strikeouts, should really enjoy Friday night's game. Hatters' redshirt junior Robbie Peto (2-0, 1.86) has recorded 30 strikeouts in his first three outings and is tied for 17^th in the nation in total Ks. He will match up against Ohio State sophomore left-hander Seth Lonsway (1-1, 1.12) who leads the nation is both total strikeouts (37) and strikeouts per nine innings (20.81). Through his first 16 innings of work this year Lonsway is averaging 2.3 Ks per inning.
 
It will be the first meeting between the Hatters and Buckeyes since 2013. That year the Hatters walked-off with a 3-2 victory over Ohio State in 12 innings. Garrett Russini doubled home the winning run that day. The win left the overall series between the programs tied at six wins each.
 
Stetson already has two walk-off wins this year, with Jorge Arenas doing the honors against Hartford in the series finale and Eric Foggo delivering in the 12^th inning to beat UMBC.
 
Since Foggo's big hit, the Stetson pitching staff has allowed just one runner to advance past second base over the last two games. Peto is looking to get back to his performances from the first two weekends of the season when he had consecutive scoreless outings, allowing just two hits over 13.1 innings. He allowed four runs on 10 hits in his last outing, going six innings against UMBC.
 
Offensively, redshirt freshman Brandon Hylton is expected to be available this weekend. He leads the Hatters with a .452 average this year, but left the series finale against UMBC after just one plate appearance and did not play on Wednesday at Bethune-Cookman.
 
Foggo is right on his heels with a .381 average to go with a team-leading three home runs and 10 RBI.
 
The tournament will continue at noon on Saturday when the Buckeyes take on Harvard. Stetson will play Fairfield in the late game with sophomore Daniel Paret, the preseason ASUN Pitcher of the Year, expected to make his season debut. Sunday's schedule will open at 1 p.m. with Stetson facing Harvard. Freshman Nick Durgin (1-0, 1.46), fresh off eight shutout innings against UMBC last weekend, is the expected starter for the Hatters.
 
Fairfield and Ohio State will close out the tournament at 7 p.m. on Sunday night.
 
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.