Baseball team to play Indian River at Mets spring training stadium Friday night

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will open a three-game series with Indian River State College at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie on Friday evening.

The opening game will be played at the Spring Training Home of the New York Mets as the Pioneers will honor Mike Easom with the naming of the Indian River State College baseball field before the game.

There will also be a Scholarship Hitting Contest before the game. The game will begin at 6 p.m. with the gates opening at 3 p.m. at Clover Park.

The series is a big one for both teams as they begin the weekend within a game of each other in the standings.

Indian River State College comes into the series 23-11 overall and 3-6 in the conference. The Pioneers have lost two straight and five of the past six heading into the series. 

Indian River comes into the series hitting a state-best .332 as a team and is led by Romeo Sanabria who is hitting .438 which is second in the state. Teammate Ryne Guida is third in runs batted in with 47 this season.

The Titans will combat that with one of the best pitching staffs in the state with a team ERA of 3.69 which is second to Florida Southwestern in the state. 

Eastern Florida State College will send KC Swords to the mound and the Vero Beach native is 5-3 this season with a 5.20 ERA in nine appearances.

The two teams will be back at Bruce Bochy Field Saturday for a doubleheader with the first game set for 1 p.m. and will be a nine-inning game with the second game to follow and will be a seven-inning game. Admission is free and Eastern Florida State College is also hosting the 6^th annual Backyard BBQ Cook-Off and Family Fest which begins at 11 a.m.

Watch a video of head coach Steven Brown talking about the series.