Lynchburg, Va. - The Stetson baseball team has had a week to put its ASUN opening series in the past, but the road ahead is no easier as the Hatters open a three-game series at Liberty tonight at 6 p.m.

Stetson had expected to have had a game to flush the memory of last weekend, but Wednesday's scheduled contest at James Madison was washed out. The team has been in Virginia since Tuesday and has worked out twice at Liberty's Worthington Field in preparation for the start of the series. 

The Hatters even had a chance to have some fun away from the baseball field on Thursday, spending the afternoon at a nearby bowling alley. The desire to compete was high, but the players also had fun and spent a lot of time laughing at each other.

Redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Nick Durgin led his team to victory Thursday on the lanes, and he will take the ball on Friday night looking to get back in the groove personally, and help the Hatters snap their three-game skid. 

To have success, Durgin will have to deal with a Liberty team that comes into the weekend ranked 15th in the nation with a 14-5 record after suffering a home loss to Wake Forest on Tuesday night. The Flames bounced back from a series opening loss at North Florida last weekend to take the series from the Ospreys to open ASUN play.

Liberty is hitting just .259 as a team this year, but the Flames are led by sophomore outfielder Derek Orndorff who is hitting .328 with a .534 on-base percentage. He has hit 11 home runs and driven in 22 runs while also having drawn 17 walks and having been hit by pitches 10 times. As a team, the Flames have hit 27 home runs in 19 games.

The strength of the Flames is in the pitching staff, which boast of a 3.38 team ERA and is averaging 10.76 strikeouts per nine innings.

Durgin, who surrendered six runs on nine hits over just 3.1 innings in his last outing against FGCU, will be opposed by junior left-hander Joe Adametz (2-2, 2.52), who allowed just two runs on seven hits over five innings in his last outing, last Friday at UNF.

Saturday's game will pit Stetson sophomore LHP Jonathan Gonzalez (2-3, 6.14) against Liberty sophomore RHP Trey Gibson (3-0, 3.66). Sunday's series finale will see Stetson sophomore RHP Cole Stallings (3-1, 3.41) face off with Liberty junior right-hander Max Alba (2-0, 5.40).

The Flames lead the all-time series against Stetson 4-3 and have won the last four games between the programs. The last time the teams met was in the 2019 ASUN Tournament championship where Liberty won consecutive games, 6-3 and 4-3, at Melching Field to capture the ASUN title.

This is Stetson's second trip to Lynchburg, with the first also coming during that 2019 season. The Hatters won the opener of that series 3-2 before falling 12-6 and 15-4. The programs first met in 1982 in DeLand with the Hatters taking a 7-0 victory. They also faced off in the 1991 season with Stetson taking a 3-1 win that year.

The Hatters have seven regulars in the lineup hitting better than .300 so far this year. That group is led by redshirt freshman Jakob Bullard with a .367 average. Bullard comes in riding a 10-game hitting streak, batting .437 during that stretch. Graduate transfer Cameron Hill is the spark plug for the Stetson engine. He is hitting .359 on the season, has reached base in 15 consecutive games and is second on the team, behind fellow graduate Nick DiPonzio, with 11 stolen bases. DiPonzio has swiped 12 bags so far.

All three games in the weekend series will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Alan York and Matt Warner on the call for the games.

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS. Get in on the conversation on social media by following Stetson Athletics on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For video content, visit our YouTube channels: Stetson Hatters, Stetson Athletics and, for live events, Hatter Vision.