Baseball team opens Citrus Conference season Thursday at home

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will begin the Citrus Conference season on Thursday with a three-game series against Polk State College.

The Titans, who are 6-6 on the season, will be at home on Thursday evening for the first game of the series at Bruce Bochy Field.

"Definitely excited to get going in conference play, first 12 games had some ups and downs but we played a strong schedule, threw some guys in some different spots and put guys into tough positions to see them work out of it so I think we are battle tested," Gallagher said.

Polk State College comes into the matchup third in the FCSAA in runs scored with 95 in 12 games, averaging close to eight runs per game. They are led by Kustarr Webb who is leading the FCSAA with a .560 batting average heading into conference play.

The Eagles are 8-4 this season and have won two in a row.

"It is one of those matchups where you will see where you are at early on because they are a well-coached team," Gallagher said. "The pitchers are going to throw strikes, the defense makes plays and are nine tough outs so you really get to see how you stack up quickly because they are going to make you beat them, so you have to come ready to compete and execute."

Eastern Florida State College is hitting .275 as a team and have seven guys hitting over .300 after 12 games.

"I don't think we have reached our peak yet offensively," Gallagher said. "There are some guys that have come on and we have had some injuries but I do think our offense is capable of more than we have shown so far."

The Titans will give the ball to Joey Duprey in the conference opener. The Freshman from Rockledge is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA and has struck out seven in six innings this season.

Last season the Titans split a four-game season series with Polk State College and Thursday will be the first of four meetings this season.

Thursday's game begins at 5 p.m. and admission to Bruce Bochy Field on the Melbourne campus is free. Fans can also watch the game live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.