Baseball team opens season Friday at Ed Davis Kickoff Classic in Auburndale

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will open the regular season Friday afternoon at the Ed Davis Kickoff Classic at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale.

The Titans will open the season against Chipola, who is ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA Region VIII preseason poll and is receiving votes in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll. Friday's game will begin at 4 p.m.

"To me Opening Day is the most exciting day, I still get the chills just thinking about it. Your mind goes back to when you were in little league," Eastern Florida State College baseball coach Steven Brown said. "Opening with a powerhouse like Chipola that has been to the college world series many times and won it will be a huge challenge for our guys."

Eastern Florida State College will send KC Swords to the mound for the season opener. Swords was a second team all-conference pitcher last year, finishing with a 3.69 ERA and a 10.80 strikeout per nine average in 31 2/3 innings.

"He has been there last season and performed well, went to the Northwoods League over the summer and pitched well in front of big crowds, so he will be fine," Brown said.

On Saturday the Titans will play two games, beginning with Santa Fe at 1 p.m. and then will play Seminole State College at 4 p.m. Santa Fe is ranked No. 16 in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll and fifth in the state preseason poll and Seminole State is No. 10 in the state poll.

"It is a huge weekend of games for us, the great thing about the Auburndale tournament is there will be a lot of scouts and four-year schools there watching the guys," Brown said. "I just want to play our style of baseball, don't try to do too much especially against some of the better teams in the state, I don't want them to try to do too much and get out of how we want to play."

Admission to games this weekend is $10 per person and games will be shown online at livebarn.com.