The Patriots traveled down to Miami on Thursday for their Citrus Conference opener and came away with a 9-4 win over the Miami-Dade College Sharks.
A Cole Bullen groundout in the third inning opened the scoring for the Pats, immediately followed by a two-run home run by Cooper Jones, his third HR of the season.

Miami-Dade took advantage of some wild pitching to take the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the third. That lead wouldn't last long as a Kareh Valentin home run in the fourth made it 5-4 Patriots. It was Valentin's fourth HR of the season. Some sloppy defense by the Sharks allowed CF to push the lead to 7-4 in the fifth inning.
Anthony Diaz and Bullen each had RBI singles to close out the scoring for the Patriots.

Evan Dobias (2-0) earned the win in relief as he tossed 4.2 innings allowing five hits, one run, and striking out six MDC batters. Luke Ridley threw the final two innings allowing only one hit, no runs, and striking out three.

CF and Miami-Dade will play game two of the three game series in Ocala on Friday at Goodlett Field, 2:00 PM start. Game three will be played on Saturday, 10:00 AM (weather permitting).