Baseball Season Preview 2014 Schedule
As Stetson head coach Pete Dunn embarks on his 35th season in charge of the Hatters, he is looking to put the disappointment of last season behind him. In 2013, the Hatters boasted the youngest roster of Dunn’s tenure, at times starting seven first-year players, many of whom were freshmen. But despite the youth, Dunn and his staff saw several players emerge last season. And those players will all play critical roles as the Hatters move forward in 2014. Stetson returns six everyday positional starters from last season, and the entire weekend starting rotation returns intact, as does much of the bullpen. Despite all that experience, the 2014 Hatters are still a relatively young team. The roster of 33 players features just six seniors and six returning juniors. The other 21 players are either freshmen or sophomores, with one first-year junior. Young experience, however, is still experience. And that experience showed in fall workouts as Dunn and his staff spent more time on working to improve the squad, instead of teaching the game like the previous fall. “I’m really pleased with how our fall workouts went, even though we didn’t have all of our pieces in place,” Dunn said. “We had a few guys coming back from injury that either didn’t participate or were limited as to what they could do.” Several key veterans return from last season, including sophomore first baseman Patrick Mazeika. The 2013 Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year, Mazeika batted .382 last season.
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Catcher Garrett Russini (.256 Avg, 2 HR, 33 RBI), second baseman Kevin Fagan (.275-0-25), and shortstop Tyler Bocock (.238-0-9) also return. Senior left-hander Austin Perez (7-2, 2.81 ERA) leads the pitching staff, while fifth-year senior Kurt Schluter returns after missing most of 2013 due to injury. Stetson faces an ambitious schedule in 2014. In addition to the typical strong Atlantic Sun Conference slate, the Hatters will play 13 games against either ACC or SEC foes. And they won’t waste any time with the challenging portion of their schedule, opening the season Feb. 14 with a three-game home series against Ole Miss. The Hatters are also scheduled to face Boston College, South Carolina, Miami, NC State and Florida State, as well as traditional foes like Bethune-Cookman, FIU and South Florida. “This schedule is as strong as I can remember in my 35 years as a head coach,” Dunn said. “I can say with confidence we’ve never played 13 combined games against SEC and ACC opponents in the same season. It’s really nice for our fans, because nine of those games are at home. It gives them a good opportunity to see the two strongest baseball conferences in the nation. “These are the types of teams we’re going to face in the postseason. When you match up with the teams we’re facing early on, you’re going to find out pretty quick what you’re made of. We had a really young team last season, so we’ll see how much our young kids have matured in the last year.”
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Date # Opponent Time FEBRUARY 14 Fri. Ole Miss 6:30 PM 15 Sat. Ole Miss 2:00 PM 16 Sun. Ole Miss 12:00 PM 19 Wed. at FIU 5:00 PM 21 Fri. Boston College 6:30 PM 22 Sat. Boston College 2:00 PM 23 Sun. Boston College 1:00 PM 25 Tue. at Bethune-Cookman 6:00 PM 26 Wed. South Florida 6:30 PM 28 Fri. # Iowa 7:00 PM MARCH 1 Sat. # Furman 7:00 PM 2 Sun. # Maine 4:00 PM 4 Tue. at South Carolina 7:00 PM 5 Wed. at South Carolina 7:00 PM 8 Sat. Siena 6:30 PM 9 Sun. Siena 1:00 PM 9 Sun. Siena 6:30 PM 11 Tue. NC State 6:30 PM 12 Wed. Miami 6:30 PM 14 Fri. Yale 7:30 PM 15 Sat. Yale 3:00 PM 16 Sun. Yale 1:00 PM 21 Fri. * at ETSU 7:00 PM 22 Sat. * at ETSU 2:00 PM 23 Sun. * at ETSU 1:00 PM 26 Wed. Florida A&M 5:00 PM 28 Fri. * FGCU 6:30 PM 29 Sat. * FGCU 2:00 PM 30 Sun. * FGCU 1:00 PM APRIL 1 Tue. South Florida 6:30 PM 4 Fri. * at Northern Kentucky 3:00 PM 5 Sat. * at Northern Kentucky 1:00 PM 6 Sun. * at Northern Kentucky 1:00 PM 8 Tue. Bethune-Cookman 6:30 PM 11 Fri. * at Kennesaw State 6:00 PM 12 Sat. * at Kennesaw State 2:00 PM 13 Sun. * at Kennesaw State 1:00 PM 15 Tue. at South Florida 7:00 PM 17 Thu. * Lipscomb 6:30 PM 18 Fri. * Lipscomb 6:30 PM 19 Sat. * Lipscomb 1:00 PM 22 Tue. at Florida State 6:00 PM 23 Wed. at Florida State 4:00 PM 25 Fri. * at North Florida 6:00 PM 26 Sat. * at North Florida 1:00 PM 27 Sun. * at North Florida 1:00 PM MAY 2 Fri. * Jacksonville 6:30 PM 3 Sat. * Jacksonville 6:30 PM 4 Sun. * Jacksonville 1:00 PM 6 Tue. Florida State 6:00 PM 9 Fri. * at Mercer 6:00 PM 10 Sat. * at Mercer 2:00 PM 11 Sun. * at Mercer 1:00 PM 15 Thu. * USC Upstate 6:30 PM 16 Fri. * USC Upstate 6:30 PM 17 Sat. * USC Upstate 1:00 PM 21-25 Wed.-Sun. at A-Sun Championship TBA 30-J2 Fr.-Mon. at NCAA Regionals TBA JUNE 6-9 Fri.-Mon. at NCAA Super Regionals TBA 14-25 Sat.-Wed. at College World Series TBA # - Stetson Invitational * - Atlantic Sun Conference game All times Eastern and subject to change Home games in bold and played at Melching Field
February 2014