Baseball team home for conference game Thursday night

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will open a Citrus Conference series with the College of Central Florida on Thursday evening.

The Titans will host the Patriots on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the first of a three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday in Ocala.

Eastern Florida State College comes into the series 2-1 while the College of Central Florida is 1-2 after the first weekend of conference games.

Sophomore Owen Simmons will take the mound for the Titans and is 3-0 this season with a 1.29 ERA in four appearances. The three wins and 1.29 ERA are both among the top five in the FCSAA rankings. In his first conference start, Simmons went seven strong innings with four strikeouts in a road win against Hillsborough Community College.

Offensively, leadoff hitter Kevin Smith is hitting .382 in 13 games with three home runs and 13 RBI and has hit safely in seven straight games, going 6-for-13.

Jason Mack has an eight-game hitting streak and is hitting .353 this season with 14 RBI while Shane Thomas has multiple hits in three of the past four games for the Titans.

The College of Central Florida comes into the series winning the past two games and beat Miami Dade in the final game of opening weekend.   

Offensively the Patriots are third in the state in home runs this season with 19 and have scored 116 runs which is fourth in the state. Logan Chapman comes into the series hitting .463 this season with a couple of home runs and 15 RBI and has multiple hits in each of the past six games. Teammate Dawson Harman is tied for first in the state in home runs with seven and third in RBI with 20. The sophomore is hitting .364 in 15 games this season.

Thursday's game at Bruce Bochy Field will begin at 5 p.m. and admission is free to home games. Fans can also watch the game live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.