Many DeLand residents are passionate about Stetson athletics, notably baseball. In recent years, the Stetson baseball team has received national fame, thanks to a few alumni who have have made it to the big leagues. In 2014, New York Mets pitcher and former Stetson player, Jacob deGrom was called up to the big leagues and received the National League Rookie of the Year award. Also in 2014, Cleveland Indians pitcher and former Stetson standout Corey Kluber received the American League Cy Young Award.
Recently, Stetson Baseball was put on the national map once again due to their magical run to win the conference championship and get a bid to the NCAA tournament. The Hatters entered the tournament as a six seed with the opportunity to advance stacked against them. Stetson went on a 4-0 run to win the tournament. This was the first time the Hatters have made the tournament since 2006.
Stetson went on to play in the NCAA regional tournament in Coral Gables, coming up short against Miami and Florida Atlantic. However, many see this as a building block for the future. Stetson skipper Pete Dunn said, “as I told the guys, I’m proud of them. You know, nobody gave us a chance going into the conference tournament; we were limping into the conference tournament and just started playing really well and it got us here. Like I said, we didn’t play well enough to win those two games, but I thought we really played well and competed, and I’m proud of them.”
The future is bright for Stetson baseball. The next season kicks of in the spring of 2017. Go to www.gohatters.com for ticket information.