Gators Baseball Faces Stetson in DeLand (UPDATE: Game postponed for March 18)

UPDATE: Wednesday’s game has been postponed due to weather. The makeup date has been set for March 18.

After an unexpected day off on Tuesday, Florida Gator baseball is back at it.  The Gators (8-0) heads down to DeLand for a midweek match up with the Stetson University Hatters (6-1). It’s Florida’s first game against Stetson since 2017.

Florida downed the Hatters 9-8 in 11 innings the last time they met. Coincidentally, Kirby McMullen was the winning pitcher that day. He is one of five players between the two squads left over from that 2017 meeting.

Furthermore, Florida is the first top-ranked team to play at Stetson since Florida State in 2012.

Scouting the Hatters

Stetson is coming off a walk-off win on Sunday that clinched its series against the Hartford Hawks.  Coach Steve Trimper’s team is the third-best hitting team in the A-SUN with a .284 team average. They’re also the A-SUN’s best slugging team at .437.

Additionally, hitters like Brandon Hylton and Eric Foggo are top 10 average-wise in the conference.  The red shirt freshman Hylton is top three in the A-SUN in slugging and on-base percentage and sports a league-leading .522 batting average.

Brandon Hylton Captures ASUN Player of the Week https://t.co/7nysKMh6R2

— Stetson Baseball (@StetsonBaseball) February 24, 2020

Stetson’s only utilized eight pitchers including the starters this season but the Hatter staff has posted a 1.86 ERA through seven games. They’re tied for second with 71 strikeouts among conference teams and strike out an average of 10.14 hitters per nine innings.

However, Stetson is the A-SUN’s worst-fielding team with a .942 percentage. They have 16 errors for an average of about two per game. Shortstop Jorge Arenas has the most in the A-SUN with five.

Freshman Honored by SEC

IMG product Josh Rivera earned the SEC’s Co-Freshman of the Week honor for his play over the last four games. He hit .533 with eight hits, two doubles, a home run, five RBIs and four runs scored.

The first-year shortstop hit .455 in the sweep of the Miami Hurricanes over the weekend. More over, three of his five RBIs came in that road series.

https://twitter.com/GatorsBB/status/1232125718378631169

Where and When to Watch

Fans can watch the game at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+ or can listen over the airwaves of ESPN 98.1 FM/850 AM WRUF.