Baseball team in hunt for conference title

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team heads into the final two series of Southern Conference play in the middle of a pennant race.

The Titans sit in second place in the conference, one game behind Miami Dade with six games left.

The conference champion will advance to the NJCAA Division I Gulf District/FCSAA State Baseball Tournament in Lakeland. The next three teams will play in a tournament to decide the second team to advance on May 1-2.

Eastern Florida State College will open a three-game series with Palm Beach State College Wednesday on the road before coming to Bruce Bochy Field for Game 2 Friday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. The final game of the series will be at 1 p.m. at Palm Beach State College.

The Panthers come into the series 7-11 in the conference and the Titans lead the season series 3-0 this season.

The Titans will wrap up the regular season next week with a three-game series with Broward College beginning April 24, who is currently tied with Indian River State College for third place.

The Titans, who are on a five-game winning streak, boast one of the top pitching rotations in Region 8 as freshman Carter Stewart leads the state in ERA with a 1.63 while Connor Brian is No. 7 with a 2.39 and Pablo Barquero Jackson is No. 14 at 2.63. The staff is third in the nation in strikeouts with 442 which is the most in Region 8.

Offensively, the Titans are averaging six runs per game and are tied for second in doubles in Region 8 with 88.

Admission to games at Bruce Bochy Field is free.