GAME DAY INFORMATION
|
DATE: April 10, 2024
TIME: Wednesday: 6:30 PM
|
LOCATION: Melching Field at Conrad Park
DeLand, Fla. |
|
GAME DAY LINK
|
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
|
|
|
|
THE LEAD
The Stetson University baseball team will continue their homestand following a series win over Kennesaw State. After going 3-1 last week, including a dominant win over the USF Bulls, the Hatters take a break from conference play to host the #17 UCF Knights at Melching Field on Wednesday, April 10. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM with the action set to be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats available at GoHatters.com.
PROMOTIONS
- Free T-Shirts: The first 100 students in the Mad Hatters Student Sections will receive a free Stetson Baseball shirt!
- Football Meet and Greet: Get a chance to meet the 2024 Stetson Football team before their Spring Game on April 13th!
- Prior to the game, Stetson will honor the DeLand PD K-9s, who located and helped safely return a missing boy, 3, to his family on March 29.
INSIDE THE SERIES
In the long standing history between the two rivals, Stetson trails in the series with a 52-80 record. While they trail 23-36 on the road, a majority of their wins have come at home, holding a 29-40 record in DeLand. The Hatters look for revenge after dropping their meeting with the Knights 7-1 in Orlando back on March 13. The series dates all the way back to March 1, 1975 when the Hatters dropped the inaugural game at home, 7-8. Over their 132 previous meetings, the Hatters have scored a total of 744 runs, 5.64 per game.
SCOUTING THE HATTERS (22-10, 9-3 ASUN)
Stetson enters the game after winning nine of their last ten games including a series win over Kennesaw State over the weekend. The last time the Hatters took on an out of conference opponent was a 19-9 win over USF last Tuesday, the most runs scored by the Hatters under Steve Trimper and the most since defeating LIU Brooklyn on March 22 in 2015.
Powering the Stetson offense over the weekend was sophomore third baseman Isaiah Barkett, who batted .462 across the three-game slate. Notably, Barkett hit for the cycle on Friday night, the first time a Hatter has hit for the cycle since the 2019 season when Eric Foggo accomplished the feat, also against Kennesaw State.
Brandon Hylton hit a pair of towering home runs over the week, one of which nearly cleared the video board in right field on Friday. The senior also hit one against USF while racking up four RBIs.
Freshman Kyle Jones has now reached base in 19 straight games after going five for 14 against Kennesaw State. He is currently leading the team with a .360 batting average and .490 OB%. Jones has tallied 41 hits in 114 at-bats this season, 11 of which have been extra base hits.
Gio Cueto and Yohann Dessureault are tied for a team-high 26 RBIs, tied for 16th most in the conference. The former is batting .314 on the year with 12 extra base hits, including nine doubles. Dessureault has started all 32 games at second base, batting .318 with 35 hits. 15 of his hits have been extra base hits, including a team-high eight home runs.
Anthony DeFabbia earned his sixth win of the season while Daniel Paret earned his fourth win with 7.1 innings of two-run ball on Sunday. RHP Mike McCully will get the starting nod for Wednesday's game, his first start of the season.
SCOUTING THE #17 KNIGHTS (21-8, 8-7 BIG12)
After winning their fourth-straight Big 12 Conference series over the weekend, the Knights have moved up in the national rankings and are ranked as high as No. 16 by the NCBWA this week. UCF is also ranked 17th by both D1Baseball and Perfect Game, and 19th by both Baseball America and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Black and Gold will enter Wednesday with a 21-8 overall record and an 8-7 Big 12 Conference clip.
After taking two of three from Kansas State last weekend, UCF has won eight of its last 10 ballgames. In the K-State series, the Black and Gold claimed Friday's opener, 7-4, before dropping Saturday's contest by a score of 4-3. The Knights then responded in the rubber match by pulling out a 6-1 victory to claim the series. Junior first baseman Lex Boedicker nearly single-handily helped the Black and Gold pull out Friday's opener against the Wildcats by going 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, and six runs batted in. Boedicker had a two-run double in the third, a two-run homer in the sixth, and a two-run double in the eighth. The six RBIs marks the most by a Knight on the season and Boedicker's four-hit outing matches his previous mark for the single-game team-high in that category.
On the season, the junior outfielder Prevesk paces the Knights with a .372 batting average, 25 runs scored and a .960 OPS. He also has 11 extra-base hits and 20 RBIs. Andrew Sundean is next with a .311 average and a team-best 25 RBIs, while Zyska follows with a .305 batting average, 25 runs scored, 19 runs batted in, and a teamleading 12 extra-base hits with seven doubles and five homers. Dom Stagliano leads the UCF starting rotation with a 3.74 ERA, while Ben Vespi fronts the team in strikeouts with 34 in 36.0 innings of work. The lefty Castellano is one of the top arms in the bullpen, with a 3-0 record, 3.34 ERA and 33 punchouts in 29.2 innings, while Kramer has a team-best five victories (5-0) as well as a 1.93 ERA. The closer Centala leads the Big 12 Conference and currently ranks fifth nationally in saves with seven on the season.
Senior RHP Cade Boxrucker will make his third-straight midweek start and his seventh overall start on the season. Boxrucker was named the Big 12 Conference CoNewcomer of the Week on April 1 after finishing just one out away from a no-hitter in a dominant 8.2-inning outing in a shutout victory at Jacksonville on March 26.
NEXT UP
Stetson will continue their homestand at Melching Field on Friday as they host ASUN rivals Florida Gulf Coast for a three-game slate over the weekend. The Hatters will look to stay atop of the conference standings as they begin play at 6:30 PM on Friday and Saturday before concluding the series at 1:00 PM. All the action will be streamed to ESPN+ and live stats will be available at GoHatters.com.
