GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Davenport baseball is off to a hot start with a 5-1 record and will face a stretch of five games in the state of Florida this week. It kicks off with a single game at Eckerd on Wednesday at 6 PM and concludes on Sunday, Mar. 2 against regional foe Ashland at 1 PM. After playing at Eckerd in St. Petersburg, the Panthers will then play their final four games of the trip in Tampa at the UT Baseball Field. The Spartans are the third and fourth games of the trip and they are currently ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division II.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Panthers opened the season with a four-game sweep against Northwood in Johnson City, Tennessee. DU batted .308 in that series and outscored the Timberwolves 25-8. Vincent Hardy went 4-for-5 at the plate with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Chase Kemp hit .500 (4-8) with three runs scored and three RBI. He also drew four walks and reached base two-thirds of his plate appearances. Michael Tchavdarov was named GLIAC Player of the Week after the series batting .364 with four hits in 11 at-bats. He drove in five runs and belted a pair of doubles with four walks. The staff earned-run average was a stellar 1.69 against the Timberwolves. The team struck out 32 and walked just seven in 32 innings of work. 

SERIES HISTORY
Eckerd and Davenport are 1-1 against each other with the Tritons winning the last contest, 6-5, back on Mar. 1, 2022. The other meeting was a 15-5 win by Davenport on Feb. 27, 2018. The Panthers have yet to play Minnesota Crookston on the diamond. Tampa won the only previous meeting with Davenport, 2-1, back on Feb. 27, 2023. E.J. Doskow hit a two-out, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to send the Spartans home a winner in the contest. DU and Ashland have the longest history among this week's opponents. The series is deadlocked at 10 wins each and dates back to Feb. 28, 2014 when DU was a member of the NAIA. The teams competed in the GLIAC together until the Eagles departure to the G-MAC after the 2021 season. The teams played three games last season in Ashland, Ohio with the Eagles taking two of three. DU won 10-8 in the final game of the series as Michael Tchavdarov went 3-for-6 with a run scored and two RBI. Austin VanderMarkt got the win with three relief innings and did not allow a hit.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Eckerd was an addition to the schedule since DU lost a doubleheader against McKendree earlier this month. The Tritons are a member of the Sunshine State Conference and already have 13 games under their belt with a 2-11 record. They are looking to end an 11-game losing skid in Wednesday game. Most recently, the Tritons dropped three conference games on Feb. 21-22 at home against Nova Southeastern by scores of 9-1, 11-9, and 11-10. Luis Garrido leads the team among regulars with a .352 batting average (19-54) in 13 starts. He has a .830 OPS and .444 slugging percentage with five RBI. Christian Perez, Kam Gelwick, Christian Cabina, and Zade Stark each have eight RBI to lead the team.

The Golden Eagles of Minnesota Crookston are currently 4-3 overall and opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play a couple of days ago against Wayne State College in Pueblo, Colorado. Crookston took three of four games in the series after a 12-1 loss in game one on Saturday, Feb. 22. They rebounded with wins of 8-0, 11-6, and 11-9. Josh Dykhoff threw a gem in game one on Sunday, Feb. 23 with a complete-game, two-hit shutout. He did not walk anyone and struck out 10 batters to improve to 1-0 this season. Dykhoff also batted fourth in the order and helped his cause with a solo home run in the third inning. He finished 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored. Dylan Debilzen leads the squad with a .409 batting average (9-22) and has scored four runs while driving in four runs. Sawyer Satrom has been the main run producer with 10 RBI including a pair of home runs and a triple. The Golden Eagles currently have a staff earned-run average of 5.55 in 58.1 innings with 56 strikeouts.

Tampa is the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II with an overall record of 10-2 and are winners of four straight games. They completed a three-game sweep of Lynn on Feb. 21-22 at home in their most recent action. The third game was a 14-8 slugfest with Edgardo Villegas going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Three of those hits were doubles and he also stole a base. J.D. Urso went 2-for-4 with a double, triple, two runs scored and two RBI. The Spartans are hitting .282 as a team this season with Jordan Williams leading the way with a .425 batting average (17-40). He also leads the team with 17 RBI and slugs .700. Skylar Gonzalez has made four starts on the mound and tossed 23 innings with a 1.96 earned-run average and a 2-0 record. Jacob Fletcher is also 2-0 in 9.1 innings of work with a 2.89 earned-run average.

Ashland checks in at No. 21 this week in NCAA Division II with a 4-1 overall record. The Eagles opened the season in Houston, Texas against three nationally-ranked teams. They lost their opener 15-5 against No. 3 Central Missouri on Jan. 31 and then proceeeded to beat No. 23 Arkansas Tech (8-7) and No. 19 Arkansas-Monticello (6-5) over the following two days. Ashland swept a doubleheader on Monday, Feb. 24 at Concord in Athens, West Virginia by scores of 7-5 (10 innings) and 6-3. Max Caron is leading the team with a .444 batting average (8-18) in five starts with five runs scored and seven RBI. Sam Witt is batting .400 (6-15) with four runs scored, two doubles, and five walks. Chase Carter has yet to allow an earned run on the mound in 7.2 innings for the Eagles going 2-0 with seven strikeouts and no walks. The Eagles have a 6.85 earned-run average as a team with 39 strikeouts and 30 walks.

LIVE COVERAGE
Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Eckerd - 6 PM - Live Video - Live Stats
Friday, Feb. 28 vs Minnesota Crookston (Tampa, FL) - 1 PM - Live Video - Live Stats
Saturday, Mar. 1 at Tampa (DH) - 3 PM - Live Video - Live Stats
Sunday, Mar. 2 vs Ashland (Tampa, FL) - 1 PM - Live Video - Live Stats