Baseball team opens conference season Thursday on the road

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will open the Citrus Conference season this week with a series against Hillsborough Community College.

The first game of the series will be Thursday afternoon at the N.Y. Yankees Himes Complex in Tampa with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Bruce Bochy Field. It will be the second straight season that the Titans open the conference season against the Hawks.

"Fresh start for everyone, starting off the season on a strong foot is awesome for the guys but this Thursday is when it all comes into play, conference baseball in this state from top to bottom is unbelievable," Eastern Florida State College baseball coach Steven Brown said. "We are excited to get going. Hillsborough is well coached and play the game extremely hard."

Eastern Florida State College has started the season 8-4 this season and will turn to Owen Simmons for Game 1. Simmons has made three starts this season has a 1.93 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Offensively, reigning Player of the Week Bo Tabola is hitting .387 this season with two doubles, a triple and two home runs.

Hillsborough Community College is 4-6 this season but unbeaten at home and the top two starters have gotten off to good starts this season. Caleb Clover is back from last season and has allowed one earned run in the first 11 2/3 innings this season for a 0.77 ERA, striking out 13.

Jack Martinez is hitting .310 in nine games with three doubles, a triple and two home runs in the first nine games.

Saturday's doubleheader at Bruce Bochy Field will begin at 1 p.m. Admission to Bruce Bochy Field on the Melbourne campus is free and you can watch the games live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.

Coach Steven Brown talks about the start of conference season, click here to watch.