Baseball team hosts Polk State College Thursday evening

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will host Polk State College Thursday evening to open a key Citrus Conference series.

The Titans sit tied for sixth place in the conference at 10-11 while Polk State College is in fifth at 11-10 heading into the week.

Eastern Florida State College will send sophomore Owen Simmons to the mound in the series opener. The right-hander is 4-3 on the season with a 3.54 ERA which is 10^th in the FCSAA. He has 52 strikeouts in 56 innings and allowed two earned runs over seven innings against St. Petersburg College in his last outing.

The Titans hosted Polk State College in early February in a non-conference matchup and lost 10-6 in 10 innings.

JT Long started that game and struck out 11 over five innings, allowing two runs. The sophomore right-hander has been the Thursday starter for Polk State College most of the season. Long comes into the series with a 4.44 ERA and has 67 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings. Overall, the Eagles are fifth in team ERA with a 4.61 ERA.

Offensively, Jordan Thomas is hitting .336 in 34 games and has driven in 23 runs.

Eastern Florida State College leadoff hitter Kevin Smith is hitting .319 and leads the state in stolen bases with 35 which is also tied for third in the nation. Teammate Jeff Davis is hitting .364 in 24 games while teammate Shane Thomas is hitting .342 in 27 games.

Thursday's game will begin at 5 p.m. at Bruce Bochy Field. Admission is free and you can watch the game live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.