The College of Central Florida baseball team begins their 2024 season today. It will be the Patriots first game since winning the 2023 National Championship and they are poised to defend their title under Head Coach Marty Smith in his 30th year. Returning to the coaching staff are Jon Koenigsfeld in his 11th year, David Houtz in his 4th year and Tony Voiro in his 3rd year. Newcomers to the coaching staff include JC Sanner, previously at Davidson, and Daulton Horton, previously at Pratt College.
The Patriots return eleven players from their National Championship team. On the offensive side shortstop Kareh Valentin, outfielder Kainen Jorge, third baseman Edwin Toribio, catcher Cole Bullen, catcher/utility Michael Guilliams and first baseman Austin Eppley are all back and played significant time as freshman last year. On the pitching side, the Patriots lost all three starters and their closer from last season. Five arms are back including James Hill, coming off an injury from last season, Cortland Clarke, Todd Kniebbe, Austin Eppley and Ian Moore.
Last year the Patriots won the last Mid-Florida Conference Championship as this year they will compete in the new 12-team Citrus Conference consisting of the following teams:
Daytona State College
Eastern Florida State College
Florida Southwestern State College
Hillsborough Community College
Indian River State College
Miami Dade College
Polk State College
Santa Fe College
Seminole State College of Florida
St. Petersburg College
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota
All teams will all play a 3-game series with each other, creating a 33-game conference schedule. Thursday will be a single nine inning game hosted by one team and Saturday will be a double header with 7 inning and 9 inning games at the other team's site. The top 5 teams in the Citrus Conference will automatically advance to the postseason. The 6th team will match up with a team from the panhandle conference for the final spot in the postseason.
CF will open the season with games today in Auburndale, FL at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex They will match up against Chipola at 12 pm and St Petersburg at 3 pm. Both will be 7 inning games. The Patriots will return to Auburndale on Saturday, January 27th to play Hillsborough in a 9 inning game. Their first home game will be on Tuesday, January 30th vs A3 Academy.
Season Info:
Live Game Stats - GameChanger App - College of Central Florida Patriots
Live Video will be broadcasted through our website for all home games