The final week of the 2021 regular season for the Stetson Hatters will begin tonight at Melching Field when the Hatters host nationally-ranked Florida.
 
The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start and will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Messod Bendayan and Kenny Schierlinger calling the action. Due to limited capacity at the stadium because of the pandemic, tickets for the game are sold out.
 
The Hatters (24-20) snapped a five-game losing skid on Sunday and are looking to post the program's first victory over Florida (33-14) since 2007. The Gators have won each of the last eight completed games, including three wins this year.
 
All of the games this season have been close, with Florida taking a 10-7 decision on March 10, a 7-6 victory on April 6 and, just last week, 9-6. All three previous games were played at Florida Ballpark in Gainesville.
 
While Florida leads the overall series 83-52, the Gators have just a two-game advantage, 32-30, in games played in DeLand.
 
Stetson continues to be led offensively by a pair of graduate students – Andrew MacNeil and Hernen Sardinas. That duo ranks in the top five in the ASUN in most categories this year and has been especially hot of late. They each homered twice in the game at Florida last Tuesday night and both are hitting .385 against Gators pitching this year.
 
MacNeil comes into play this week riding a career-best 10 game hit streak. During the streak he is hitting .419 with five doubles, two triples and three home runs. He has a .479 on-base percentage during the streak and is slugging .837.
 
Part of what he has done to be so successful this year is get on base leading off. He has reached base leading off a game 21 times this year in 42 games hitting at the top of the order. He has a .400 batting average, .500 on-base percentage and .600 slugging percentage to start games. Overall, he has reached base 44.9 percent of the time when leading off an inning.
 
MacNeil also enters play this week one away from tying Patrick Mazeika for the Stetson career record for times hit by pitch. MacNeil has now been hit 47 times in his career.
 
Sardinas ranks third in the ASUN in hitting, is second in the league in slugging and doubles, is fourth in home runs and leads the league in RBI and total bases. Sardinas also continues to be the active career NCAA leader in doubles (68) and is fourth among active players in total bases (414), 11th in hits (249), 16th in RBI (149) and 22nd in home runs (29).
 
Like many teams this time of year, the Hatters are dealing with a lot of injuries, especially with their pitching staff. As a result of having a large number of pitchers unavailable, reliever Garner Spoljaric (0-0, 6.75) will get the call to make the start tonight. Spoljaric has been used exclusively in relief since arriving at Stetson, but he was a starter in junior college.
 
During the 2019 season at Heartland Community College in Illinois, Spoljaric made 10 starts, posting a 3-1 record with a 3.19 ERA. He worked as many as seven innings in a game twice during that season and recorded as many as 12 strikeouts in a game.
 
Florida has not yet announced a pitcher for the game tonight.
 
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.