Baseball team opens the new season Friday in Sarasota

The Eastern Florida State College baseball team will open the regular season this weekend in the State College of Florida-Manatee Tournament in Sarasota.

The Titans will play No. 17 Northwest Florida State College Friday at 1 p.m. in Sarasota and then will play Gulf Coast State College Saturday at 3 p.m. Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in the NJCAA Region 8 preseason rankings.

"I believe that you have to play the best if you want to be the best," Eastern Florida State College baseball coach Steven Brown said. "It's early, everyone is playing January and February baseball but I really like playing these teams that consistently compete to be the best in not only the state but the country because that is where we want to be. It helps my assistant coaches to see what the talent level is like and it helps our players. And when you beat those guys it shows our players that we can hang with anybody."

Eastern Florida State College has 11 players back from last season including two first team all-Southern Conference players, pitcher Trey Jackson and outfielder Dalton Robinson.

Jackson and KC Swords are both returning and should be in the rotation this season.

"Early in the year you have to be cautious and manage their pitch counts because while it is nice to get wins early with those guys, I want them fresh and ready to go at the end of April," Brown said of the duo.

Carlos Cordero is also back this season after last season was cut short when he broke his hand early in the season.

"It was a dagger to our team last year, but he is back and looks ready to go," Brown said.

As talented and experienced as the sophomore group is, coach Brown is excited about the new players.

"We have a lot of good freshmen and transfers coming in that should really help us this season," Brown said.

Eastern Florida State College will begin the season with six straight road games before hosting No. 4 College of Central Florida on Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. It will be the first of three straight home games for the Titans.