Baseball team opens conference season with win

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team opened the Citrus Conference season with a win on the road Thursday afternoon.

The Titans defeated Hillsborough Community College 9-4 at the N.Y. Yankees Himes Complex in Tampa.

Eastern Florida State College jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Bo Tabola walked and scored on Jason Mack's groundout. Hillsborough CC tied things in the bottom of the first inning.

Jeff Davis gave the Titans the lead in the third inning as he hit a single scoring Kevin Smith who had doubled.

Hillsborough Community College took the lead in the bottom of the third as Angel Matos hit a two-run home run to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.

The Titans took the lead back in the fifth inning as Ethan Askin singled, scoring Tabola to tie the game 3-3. Bryce Jackson stepped up and singled to score Nick Paszt to give the Titans a 4-3 lead.

Tabola stepped up and ripped a two-run double in the sixth inning to give the Titans a 6-3 lead. Tabola would later score on Mack's single and it was 7-3. The Titans added a run in the eighth and Shane Thomas hit his first home run of the season in the ninth inning.

Starting pitcher Owen Simmons picked up his third win with seven solid innings, striking out four hitters.

Tabola drove in two and scored three times while Davis, Mack, Askin, Thomas and Iziah Santiago each had two hits in the game.

The series will move to Bruce Bochy Field on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Admission to games at Bruce Bochy Field is free and you can watch the games live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.