DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team is set for its annual trip to Florida for The RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.  The Warriors are scheduled to play nine games in eight days in Auburndale, St. Petersburg, Davenport, Saint Leo and Lakeland.

Wayne State has won seven of its first eight games of 2024 and is coming off a four-game sweep of Tiffin.  Through those eight contests, the Warriors' offensive attack has been paced by five hitters with a batting average above the .300 mark.  Those five are Bennett Hitzelberger (.485), Tony Hatzigeorgiou (.452), Drew Hill (.393), Logan Tobel (.321) and Mason McGuire (.313).

Pitching wise, WSU's ace has been doing ace things.  Coming off his 25th career victory, a new program record, Karter Fitzpatrick (2-0 this season) has a 1.59 ERA through 17 innings pitched with 27 strikeouts, three walks and a batting average against of .136.  Two other impressive arms so far this spring have been Seth Marano and Evan Langlois.  Marano has a 2.77 ERA through 13 frames of work while Langlois' ERA is 0.00 after 7.1 innings pitched.

Thursday, March 7 | Minnesota Duluth (DH) | 9:15 AM
2024 Record: 2-2, 2-2 NSIC
Preseason Pick: 12th/14 NSIC
2023 Record: 19-28, 12-22 NSIC
Team Average: .285
Team ERA: 7.26

Friday, March 8 | at Eckerd (DH) | 4 PM
2024 Record: 7-8, 2-4 SSC
Preseason Pick: 10th/11 SSC
2023 Record: 22-27, 10-20 SSC
Team Average: .298
Team ERA: 7.21

Saturday, March 9 | Northwood | 7:15 PM
2024 Record: 2-8, 0-0 G-MAC
Preseason Pick: 2nd/14 G-MAC
2023 Record: 42-19, 27-5 G-MAC
Team Average: .251
Team ERA: 7.09

Monday, March 11 | Saint Leo | 6 PM
2024 Record: 13-2, 5-1 SSC
Preseason Pick: 4th/11 SSC
2023 Record: 30-20, 18-12 SSC
Team Average: .292
Team ERA: 2.49

Tuesday, March 12 | Minnesota Crookston | 4 PM
2024 Record: 4-6, 1-3 NSIC
Preseason Pick: 4th/14 NSIC
2023 Record: 38-20, 26-10 NSIC
Team Average: .314
Team ERA: 7.41

Wednesday, March 13 | Florida Southern | 6 PM
2024 Record: 7-8, 3-3 SSC
Preseason Pick: 3rd/11 SSC
2023 Record: 32-20, 17-13 SSC
Team Average: .248
Team ERA: 5.08

Thursday, March 14 | Purdue Northwest | 12:45 PM
2024 Record: 4-1, 0-0 GLIAC
Preseason Pick: T5th/6 GLIAC
2023 Record: 16-35, 9-21 GLIAC
Team Average: .292
Team ERA: 4.50