No. 23 Knights to take on new-and-improved Hatters in home-and-home series

Last week, the Stetson Hatters shocked the Florida college baseball circuit when they defeated No. 4 Florida State in 11 innings.

The No. 23 Knights will take on Stetson on Tuesday and Wednesday, facing the Hatters (20-4) in a home-and-home two-game series.

The Hatters, who had a   27-31 record last season, have been somewhat of a surprise team this season, openining this season with a three-game sweep of Georgia. The Hatters were riding high on an eight-game win streak into Sunday and are currently ranked No. 28 in the Top 30 Collegiate Baseball Divison I polls, where UCF is unranked.

Last season, the Knights beat Stetson twice, 11-7 and 10-6. Joe Rogers earned the first win in DeLand as the closer. It took a five-run eighth inning for the Knights to take the Hatters in a very back-and-forth game. Jonathan Griffin, Ryan Breen and Darnell Sweeney were all 3-for-5 at the plate.

Sweeney, the Knights' No. 3 hitter, leads the team with a

Stetson's Will Dorsey started both games against the Knights last season and started against FSU last week. Dorsey is 3-2 on the season and has a 4.00 ERA in six appearances.

The Hatters also have wins over East Tennessee State and Columbia. The Hatters lost to Bethune-Cookman, Maine and Siena, all schools that UCF beat.

Starting pitcher

Although Brian Adkins pitched three innings of relief in Game 3 against Rice Sunday, Adkins will most likely start on the mound for the Knights in one of the games. Miami handed Adkins his first loss of the season last week in Coral Gables, putting him at 3-1 for the season.

All season, head coach Terry Rooney has stressed to Adkins that he needs to not just pitch against the big-name teams but he needs to beat them as well.

"Brian is a ‘pitchability lefty,'" Rooney said after UCF's rout of Boston College on March 9. "When he's down in the zone and can change his off-speed pitches he's very successful."

Adkins has a 2.27 ERA in six appearances and has struck out 23 batters this season.

"I want to be that guy to face the big teams and get the big wins when we need them," Adkins said after his win over Boston College on March 9.

Matt Collins, who was originally part of the pitching rotation but hasn't seen much time this season due to a slight forearm strain, could likely be UCF's second starter this week. Collins saw time as a reliever on Saturday against Rice and threw 1-1/3 hitless, scoreless innings. Collins owns a 1.17 ERA in three appearances.

Who to watch for

— Nick Cicio. The lefty out of the pen owns a 0.53 ERA and is 1-0 in eight appearances.

— D.J. Hicks. The designated hitter has the highest batting average of the starters at .377 and he leads the team in home runs with five.

— Stetson second baseman Robert Crews. Crews owns the highest Stetson average at .379 and he batted 2-for-3 with a double against FSU last week.