Baseball team hits road for conference doubleheader

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will head to Ocala for a Citrus Conference doubleheader on Saturday.

The Titans will play the College of Central Florida beginning at 11 a.m. as Eastern Florida State College goes for its second straight conference series win on Saturday.

Eastern Florida State College won Game 1 of the series Thursday night at Bruce Bochy Field behind a dominating performance from Owen Simmons. Simmons struck out 11 in a complete game win.

Sophomore Nathan Hook will look to continue his strong start to the season as he will get the ball in the doubleheader. Hook has made three starts and is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA this season, striking out 14 in 12 innings of work. He picked up a win last weekend against Hillsborough Community College.

Freshman Brody Kelly will get the ball Saturday in the second game of the doubleheader and is looking to rebound from his first loss of the season. He will be making his second start and has 11 strikeouts in 11 innings of work with a 4.91 ERA.

The College of Central Florida is now 1-3 in the conference but are 6-1 at home and have 19 home runs in 16 games this season. Dave Harman leads the way with seven which is tied for the most in the FCSAA.

The Titans are hitting .300 this season as a team as both Jason Mack and Kevin Smith added another hit on Thursday to increase their hitting streaks. Smith, who is the leadoff hitter for the Titans, has hit in eight straight games and is batting .373 this season with three home runs. Mack now has a nine-game hitting streak heading into the doubleheader. The third baseman is hitting .342.

The Titans have won three of the past four in the series but the series is tied 3-3 in the past six meetings.

Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 11 a.m. in Ocala and fans can watch the games live online at the College of Central Florida athletics Web site.