Final Stretch Begins for First-Place Titans

Eastern Florida's baseball team begins its stretch of its final 10 regular-season games – nine in the FSCAA Southern Conference - as it hosts ASA Miami at Bruce Bochy Field at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The Titans are first in the conference with a 12-7 record, leading second-place Broward College (12-8) by a half game.

Miami Dade College is third at 11-9 and Palm Beach fourth at 10-10. Indian River is last at 4-15.

The Titans are 26-12 overall. NJCAA Division II ASA Miami is 17-17 but beat the Titans 6-5 in their most recent meeting on March 16 in Melbourne.

The ASA game doesn't impact the conference race in which the top two finishers automatically qualify for the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament and the third-place finisher faces a play-in game, a situation the Titans found themselves in the last two seasons.

But, it could provide momentum heading into the final nine games, all against conference foes. Head coach Jeff Tam is continuing to stress what he has all season: work hard, compete on every pitch and push the game to the opponent.

"This conference will eat you alive if you think you can walk in here and throw your gloves out there and get things done," Tam said. "These teams are good. They can play. If you take them for granted they will beat you. 

"That's kind of the mindset we try to keep with these kids. Just grind. Every pitch matters. Every at bat matters."

Broward's 5 p.m. Friday visit begins the stretch of the final conference games. The encounter will be televised live on WEFS-TV and streamed live at www.efsctitans.com. The teams meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday in Davie.

The Titans are 2-3 against Broward.

Three games against Indian River State follow – 4 p.m. Tuesday at Fort Pierce and 4 and 6 p.m. Wednesday in Melbourne. Wednesday's first game is the completion of the March 19 game suspended by weather with the Titans leading 5-1 in the sixth inning.

The Titans are 4-0 against Indian River.

The final four games are an April 15-16 home-and-home series with Miami Dade and an April 19-20 home-and-home with Palm Beach State.

The Titans are 4-1 against Miami Dade and 2-3 against Palm Beach. The Titans are 14-7 at home and 12-5 away.

As has been the case with all 26 victories Tam will look for a complete team effort from pitching to offense and defense.

Sophomore righty Blair Calvo has been the ace of the pitching staff with a 6-1 record. His 1.21 earned run average ranks him seventh nationally while his 66 strikeouts rank him ninth. His six wins rank him 17^th.

He is averaging 9.96 strikeouts per game and opponents are hitting .166. He has not allowed a home run in 59.2 innings.

Sophomore righty Jake Walsh is 4-2 over 33.2 innings with 3.74 ERA while sophomore lefty Matt Meyers is 4-4 over 47 innings with a 3.45 ERA.

Freshman righty Eddie Escribano is 3-0 in 26.1 innings with a 3.08 ERA while sophomore right Daniel Garmendia is 2-0 in 27.2 innings with a 2.28 ERA.

Garmendia and freshman righty Chase Evans have two saves each. As a team the Titans rank fourth with six shutouts, sixth with a 3.01 ERA and 18^th in batting average against at .246.

Offensively the Titans rank fourth nationally in at bats with 1,318 and hits with 427.

Freshman right fielder Sammy Duran continues to set the pace, leading the Titans in batting average, .404, and slugging percentage, .543. He is tied for first in on base percentage at .452 and also leads in home runs, three; runs, 34; hits, 61; runs batted in, 29; steals, 14; and total bases, 82.

He is tied in extra base hits, 12 and triples, three.   

Sophomore Vinny Capra leads in doubles with nine and is tied with Duran for triples and on base percentage.

The Titans have committed 59 errors to 80 for their opponents.